A programme to educate parents of new born babies vulnerable to Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy is taking a step forward with funding for baby's sleeping pods.

Thanks to a $2000 grant from Legacy Trust, the scheme will purchase 20 of the special pods for distribution to selected families in the community.

Raewyn Lucas (left) and Kiri Randall hold one of the new infant pods purchased with the Legacy Trust grant.

This follows the programme being implemented in the Bay of Plenty from funding received in June 2013 by the Bay of Plenty District Health Board and the Midland Maternity Action Group.

The criteria for determining the risk factors to enrol into the programme are identified by specialists and include the ethnicity of the baby, the mother's exposure to smoking during pregnancy, premature and low birth weight babies, regular alcohol and/or drug use in the baby's household and the parents' intention to co-sleep with the baby.

'The programme was an innovation developed by Change for Our Children,” says Raewyn Lucas, who co-ordinates the Western Bay of Plenty Pepi-Pod Programme.

'Our goal is to educate parents and whanau about protecting babies when they're sleeping.”

The scheme has a trained workforce in Tauranga and Whakatane, who consult with families and provide practical information about safe infant sleeping practices.

'We give the family a sleeping pod for the baby and help them understand why it's essential to create a safe sleep environment for their infant,” adds Raewyn.

'In return for the pod, we ask the family to embrace the programme's ideals and spread safe sleep information to their social networks including their extended family and friends.”

Raewyn and the team, including midwife Natasha Rawiri and registered nurse Margie Rolleston, provide follow-up calls to the families around eight-ten weeks after the initial placement of the pods.

'We seek feedback from the users of the pods to gauge their understanding of the messages we've provided,” says Natasha.

'It's also a time to clarify anything that families are unsure about,”

The opportunity to have users spread our message is extremely empowering for the families, adds Raewyn.

'Our team needs to gain trust with the families so that the safe sleep messages are practical and relevant.

'Their passion for protecting infants makes those messages believable.”

The Legacy Trust grant is a 'heartfelt gift to a vulnerable sector of our community” says the trust's Kiri Randall. 'We applaud the work that Raewyn and her team are doing to educate new parents about such important messages.”