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The Center for Children’s Advocacy, together with legislative leadership, the Child Fatality Review Panel, the Office of the Child Advocate, and medical providers from leading hospitals around the state, worked diligently on new Safe Sleep legislation, which passed on May 20th with overwhelming support.
Effective October 1, 2015, the new legislation requires hospitals to educate new parents or legal guardians of newborns with vital information on safe sleep practices before the baby’s discharge. According to a report from the Office of the Child Advocate and the Connecticut Child Fatality Review Panel, three times as many children die from unsafe sleeping conditions as die from abuse.
AN ACT CONCERNING INFANT SAFE SLEEP PRACTICES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:,
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2015) Each hospital, as defined in section 19a-490 of the general statutes, through its maternity program, shall provide the parent or parents of a newborn infant with written informational materials containing the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations concerning safe sleep practices at the time of such infant's discharge from the hospital.