Table 1.
Awareness of key safe sleeping programme messages
| Responses | Total number of times response listed* or selected n (%) |
Number of caregivers who provided a response within each category† n (%) |
| Unprompted recall question: accurate responses (ie, consistent with strategies or key messages in the current safe sleep campaign)4 | ||
| Message 1: sleep baby on back | 2791 (83.4) | |
| Baby on back | 2741 (82.7) | |
| No prone sleep | 68 (2.0) | |
| Message 2: keep head and face uncovered | 2146 (64.2) | |
| Head and face uncovered | 952 (28.5) | |
| Don’t sleep with hats | 287 (8.6) | |
| Feet to foot | 1251 (37.5) | |
| Use sleeping bag | 182 (5.5) | |
| Blankets tucked in | 1137 (34.0) | |
| Message 3: keep baby smoke-free before and after birth | 1111 (33.3) | |
| Smoke-free | 1101 (33.0) | |
| No alcohol | 99 (3.0) | |
| No drugs | 46 (1.4) | |
| Message 4: safe sleeping environment night and day | 2666 (79.8) | |
| Safe cot (ie, meets current standards) | 114 (3.4) | |
| Safe mattress (ie, firm, flat, right size for cot) | 460 (13.8) | |
| Nothing in cot (ie, safe bedding—no soft surfaces or bulky bedding) | 1424 (42.6) | |
| No pillow | 862 (25.8) | |
| No cot bumper | 606 (18.1) | |
| No toys | 1714 (51.3) | |
| No bulky blankets/doonas | 125 (3.7) | |
| No sheepskin | 14 (0.4) | |
| Message 5: sleep baby in safe cot in parents’ room | 1590 (47.6) | |
| Room-share | 888 (26.6) | |
| Sleep in cot/own bed (ie, don’t bed-share) | 1092 (32.7) | |
| Cot in parents’ room (those who listed both Room-share and Sleep in cot/own bed) | 426 (12.8) | |
| Not sleeping on couch with or without another person | 57 (1.7) | |
| Not sleeping on a person/chest | 23 (0.7) | |
| Not sleeping in sitting devices (eg, bouncer/car seat) | 22 (0.7) | |
| Message 6: breast feed baby | 321 (9.6) | |
| Breast feed | 321 (9.6) | |
| Unprompted recall question: inconsistent responses (ie, not a listed strategy or key message but not necessarily incorrect or unsafe) |
1535 (45.9) | |
| Thermoregulation | 648 (19.4) | |
| Swaddle/wrapping | 493 (14.8) | |
| No blankets/not too many blankets | 354 (10.6) | |
| Dummy use | 140 (4.2) | |
| Room/cot ventilation | 107 (3.2) | |
| Use a baby monitor | 47 (1.4) | |
| Immunise baby | 24 (0.7) | |
| Other | 224 (6.7) | |
| Unprompted recall question: shared sleeping responses | 163 (4.9) | |
| Factor(s) listed to reduce risk while sharing sleep surface | 163 (4.9) | |
| Unprompted recall question: hazardous responses | 60 (1.8) | |
| Practice(s) known to potentially increase risk | 60 (1.8) | |
| Prompted multi-choice question: responses | 3292 (98.5) | |
| Correct selection of the current 6 key safe sleep messages | 2425 (73.7) | |
| Incorrect multi-choice selection | 745 (22.6) | |
| Unsure | 122 (3.7) | |
*Multiple responses could be listed in free-text recall question.
†For accurate responses, caregiver number was measured by recall of at least one or more responses related to the key message and/or associated strategies promulgated to support the key message.