EXCLUSIVE
NIH cancels participation in Safe to Sleep campaign that decreased infant deaths

Nonprofits scramble to continue program despite ‘devastating’ loss of federal support

By Ismael M. Belkoura — Medill News Service April 30, 2025

Ismael M. Belkoura is a graduate student at Northwestern University specializing in politics, policy and foreign affairs.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has cancelled federal participation in Safe to Sleep, a 30-year campaign to prevent babies from dying in their sleep, STAT and the Medill News Service have learned.

The elimination of the National Institutes of Health’s role in the program, which helped slash infant deaths in the 2000s, comes at a time when sleep-related deaths among infants have increased. Sudden infant death rates were up nearly 12% between 2020 and 2022, according to the most recent data in a study published in JAMA Pediatrics.

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Nicholas Grossman
‪@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social‬

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I think babies dying in their sleep is bad, and research to prevent babies from dying in their sleep is good.

Sorry to get so partisan, and I apologize for offending any pro-life people when I say that babies suddenly dying in preventable ways is bad, but that's how I feel.

‪STAT‬
‪@statnews.com‬
· 2h
NIH has cancelled its participation in Safe to Sleep, a 30-year campaign to prevent babies from dying in their sleep

https://www.statnews.com/2025/04/30/nih-ends-participation-in-safe-to-sleep-campaign-to-prevent-infant-deaths/

NIH cancels participation in Safe to Sleep campaign that decreased infant deaths
NIH has cancelled its participation in Safe to Sleep, a 30-year campaign to prevent babies from dying in their sleep
www.statnews.com
May 1, 2025 at 11:59 AM