Resources

Thank you for visiting Alameda County Public Health Department’s SIDS Resources Page. This page provides a variety of SIDS resources addressing everything from coping with bereavement for individuals and groups to materials designed to help support families and child care and health care providers who have been impacted by a SIDS death. The page also features a section on Risk Reduction because reducing the risk of SIDS is one of the primary goals of the SIDS Program. We hope you find these resources helpful and educational, and we encourage you to share what you learn with others and invite them to also visit our site.

Bereavement

• First Candle
• National Institute for Children’s Health Quality
• National SUIDS/SIDS Resource Center

Bereavement - Group Support

• Bereaved Parents of the USA - Offers support for parents, siblings, and grandparents
• The Compassionate Friends - Offers support for families after the death of a child of any age
• Mothers’ Milk Bank
• Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support, Inc.

Child Care Providers

• American Academy of Pediatrics
• Caring for Our Children
• California Childcare Health Program
• California Early Care and Education Workforce Registry for Child Care Providers
• Childcare Education Institute
• Healthy Child Care America
• Placer County Office of Education Family Child Care At Its Best
• Safe Kids of California-Northern

Risk Reduction

• California Department of Public Health Resources
• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Cribs for Kids
• SUDC Foundation

Education and Outreach for Families and Health Care Providers

• text4baby Parent Support and Education Texting Program
  Text4baby promotes maternal and child health through text messaging. Parents who sign up receive three free weekly text messages that are timed to their due date or their baby's birth date, through pregnancy and until the baby's first birthday. The service is available in both English and Spanish. Messages covers information on prenatal and post-natal care and parenting, including messages and education on safe sleep practices.

• First Candle: Straight Talk for Infant Sleep
  First Candle works to eliminate SIDS and other sleep-related infant deaths through their evidence-based program for nurses, community health providers, social services agencies and faith groups, Straight Talk for Infant Sleep. The program covers the AAP safe sleep guidelines, addresses individual implicit biases and the importance of judgement-free encouragement, and explores how socioeconomic and cultural beliefs influence families.

• Safe to Sleep Public Education Campaign
  This website from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development provides safe sleep education basics and messaging for all caregiver audiences including parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, babysitters, childcare providers and all other potential caregivers. It includes printable documents and materials that help support safe sleep behaviors. The campaign includes culturally specific campaign materials, messages, and training.

• DE Thrives: A Quick Guide to Creating a Safe Sleeping Environment
  This booklet helps parents follow the steps for putting their babies to sleep safely. It includes a Q&A to directly address cultural behaviors or parenting concerns that may not be safe. This guide provides excellent information however it states that “Swaddling” is good for the baby, this school of thought is no longer being recommended.

• Milk Donation
  The Mothers Milk Bank collects and screens the excess breast milk from volunteer breastfeeding mothers, store the breast milk for optimal nutritional value, process the breast milk to remove viruses and bacteria that may cause illness, and distribute donor human milk to hospitals and families.
  
  To Donate:
  1. Contact 1-877-375-6645 to donate
  2. The Donor team will interview you and move you through the process
  3. When each screening is complete, a small blood test will be arranged
  4. Once there is a confirmed fit, the Milk Bank will start to receive your milk*, they process it and out it goes to babies in need!
  
  *Transporting milk is managed by the Milk Bank. It is free to you. You simply fill up the cooler they provide and send back to them (no dry ice required).

• Emotional Healing After a Miscarriage: A Guide for Women, Partners, Family, and Friends
  This resource is meant to help women and those around them who have experienced a miscarriage to navigate through the emotional and relational dynamics. It is an in-depth and seeks to help guide the personal and relational side of healing. It also offers help for those worrying about future pregnancies. It will be very beneficial for communities and parents who may be experiencing the grief of a miscarriage.