Following these guidelines may help reduce the risk of SIDS:
- Place your baby on the back to sleep at night and naptime
- Use a firm mattress in a safety-approved crib
- Eliminate fluffy, loose bedding from your baby's sleep area
- Keep your baby's face clear of coverings
- Be careful not to overheat your baby
- Breastfeed if possible
- Don't allow anyone to smoke around your baby
- Consider offering your baby a pacifier at naptime and bed time for the first year (but not for the first month for breastfed babies)
- Do not allow your baby to sleep in an adult bed
Over the past five years, we have raised more than $500,000 that has been used to award grants for SIDS research and to develop partnerships to support organizations that help raise awareness of and educate about SIDS.
More recently, we have developed the This Side Up campaign to educate parents that the safest way for their babies to sleep is on their back. As part of this campaign, we have distributed about 50,000 onesies that read “This Side Up” on the front and offer other safe-sleeping tips on the back. We’re currently partnering with 14 hospitals in Virginia and Tennessee to distribute our onesies, and we’ve partnered with Ukrop’s, Ukrop’s Dress Express, Pampers and Gov. Kaine’s Smart Beginnings initiative to distribute onesies through the New Parent Tool Kits in Central Virginia.
This Side Up Campaign Timeline
- June 11, 2002 – Hayes Hitzeman, the son of Kyra Oliver Hitzeman, passes away from SIDS at the age of 4½ months.
- June 15, 2002 – Kyra Oliver Hitzeman starts the Hayes Hitzeman Foundation to award grants for SIDS research, support services and public awareness programs.
- Spring, 2005 – The Hayes Hitzeman eclipses $100,000 raised for SIDS research.
- Summer, 2005 – The Hayes Hitzeman Foundation begins planning a SIDS awareness campaign.
- March 29, 2006 – The Hayes Hitzeman Foundation launches the This Side Up campaign in Richmond, Va., with hospital partners VCU Health System and CJW Medical Center. Through a partnership with Virginia Hospital Laundry, Inc., This Side Up garments – available in English and Spanish – are distributed to five other hospitals throughout Virginia.
- April, 2006 – The Richmond Healthy Start Initiative requests This Side Up one-pieces.
- November 5, 2006 – Kyra Oliver Hitzeman and the This Side Up campaign are featured in a story about SIDS in U.S. News & World Report.
- November 7, 2006 – This Side Up campaign launches in Tennessee as Livingston Regional Hospital agrees to distribute one-pieces to parents of newborns.
- November 14, 2006 – This Side Up campaign announces a partnership with Ukrop’s Super Markets Inc., Ukrop’s Dress Express, Pampers and Smart Beginnings – an initiative launched by Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine – to distribute one-pieces to newborns in Central Virginia.
- December, 2006 – Bon Secours Richmond partners with the This Side Up campaign in its three area hospitals with birthing centers. Cookeville Regional Medical Center (Tenn.) joins campaign.
- April 30, 2007 – Distribution of 15,000 This Side Up one-pieces begins through partnership with Ukrop’s, Ukrop’s Dress Express, Pampers and Gov. Kaine’s Smart Beginnings initiative.
- July, 2007 – Distribution of This Side Up one-pieces approaches 50,000.
Participating Hospitals (as of January 2008)
- VCU Health System, Richmond, Va.
- CJW Medical Center, Richmond, Va.
- St. Mary’s Hospital, Richmond, Va.
- Memorial Regional Medical Center, Mechanicsville, Va.
- St. Francis Medical Center, Midlothian, Va.
- Children’s Hospital, Richmond, Va.
- Lynchburg General Hospital, Lynchburg, Va.
- Virginia Baptist Hospital, Lynchburg, Va.
- John Randolph Medical Center, Hopewell, Va.
- Southside Community Hospital, Farmville, Va.
- Livingston Regional Hospital, Livingston, Tenn.
- Cookeville Regional Medical Center, Cookeville, Tenn.
