Free cribs available for Minnesotans as state marks Infant Safe Sleep Week

ST. PAUL, Minn. — It's Infant Safe Sleep Week in Minnesota, and a new state law is helping provide free cribs for residents.

The Minnesota Department of Health says the Healthy Beginnings, Healthy Families Act is designed to help prevent infant mortality, with $5.75 million in grant money earmarked for community health boards and public health organizations that promote safe sleep.

One of those organizations is Cradle of Hope, which offers free portable cribs for residents who are pregnant or have an infant 12 months or younger. Applicants must first review the "ABCs of safe sleep" with staff before receiving the cribs.

The ABCs, devised by the American Academy of Pediatrics, are:

• ALONE: "Infants should always sleep or nap alone - not sharing beds or cribs with others."
• BACK: "Always put a baby on their back to sleep or nap."
• CRIB: "Babies should always sleep or nap in their own safety-approved crib, play yard, bassinet or portable crib without blankets or pillows. To keep warm during Minnesota winters, parents are urged to dress babies in pajamas or other clothing appropriate for the temperature."

The health department says there are about 50 sudden unexpected infant deaths each year in Minnesota.

"The tragedies of these unexpected deaths also highlight the need to provide all Minnesotans the financial and housing opportunities necessary to provide safe sleeping spaces for babies," said MDH Assistant Commissioner Maria Sarabia.

Racial inequalities in the state have led to a disproportionally high number of sleep-related infant deaths in Minnesota's Black and Indigenous communities, with Native Americans experiencing seven times the amount of infant deaths than White residents between 2017 and 2021, the health department reports.

Both the I-35W and Lowry Avenue bridges in Minneapolis will be lit up in blue, pink and white for Infant Safe Sleep Week on separate nights: I-35W on Wednesday and Lowry on Thursday.