Grant sends Excela newborns, parents home with sleep sacks

All babies born at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital’s Family Additions Maternity Center will be sent home with two sleep sacks under a grant from the Westmoreland/Frick Hospital Foundation.

Staff at the center have long used the sleep sacks to swaddle infants in their first hours of life, but now their parents will get monogrammed garments to continue safe sleeping practices at home, according to health system officials. There are about 1,250 babies born at the hospital annually, and the foundation has committed about $21,000 for the project in 2022.

The grant amount will vary annually based on the number of newborns and production costs.

Excela Health Chief Executive Officer John Sphon said the move encourages the continuation of safe sleeping practices which can lead to a healthy community and population.

The American Academy of Pediatrics advises that the safest way for babies to sleep is alone and on their backs on a flat surface, such as crib or play pen, without any objects, blankets or pillows. Once a baby shows signs of rolling over, parents should stop swaddling.

Nearly 3,500 infants die annually in the United States during their sleep, according to the academy. Those deaths can be caused by sudden infant death syndrome or accidental suffocation or strangulation.

In Westmoreland County, two infants died because of unsafe sleeping conditions in 2021, according to coroner statistics. The year earlier, one infant died for the same reason.

The potential for a sleep-related death can be reduced by practicing safe sleeping habits and keeping a baby’s sleeping quarters in the same room as a parent for the first six to 12 months, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians.