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Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA 68-1-1102), passed in 1983, states that the Department of Health will provide counseling and
information for families who experience a SIDS death. Each county in the State of Tennessee is required to have a designated
staff person who will contact the family to offer a home visit and resource information concerning SIDS. The Chattanooga-Hamilton
County Health Department’s Case Management Services (CMS) Department provides a designated program coordinator for this
purpose.
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Provided services include:
- Attempts to follow-up every SIDS death in the Chattanooga and Hamilton County area and to offer support to parents and their families by offering published materials, a home visit, and referral to grief counseling and parent support groups (when available).
- Maintenance of a current list of community agencies offering grief counseling and parent support groups (when available) for those who have experienced an infant death.
Safe Sleep: How to Reduce Your Baby’s Risk of SIDS
While SIDS is not preventable, there are steps that parents and caregivers can take to reduce the risk of SIDS deaths:
- Put healthy babies to sleep on their backs.
- Do not expose babies to cigarette smoke during and after pregnancy.
- Make sleeping environment safe by using firm bedding. Keep potentially hazardous items (pillows, cushions, stuffed animals) away from the baby.
- Co-sleeping or bed sharing (an infant sleeping on the same surface with another person, either child or adult) is not recommended.
- Avoid overheating the infant. Infant sleepers may be considered since they eliminate the need for any covers over the baby.
- Breastfeeding is thought to reduce SIDS because of less deep sleep and frequent brief awakenings.
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