Safe Infant Sleep Practices and Associated Factors Among Mothers Attending Vaccination Service at Dessie Town Governmental Health Care Facilities, 2021.

Background: Babies spend a lot of their time with sleeping thus they need to have a safe sleep. Inadequate sleeping arrangements might heighten the likelihood of Sudden Unexpected mortality in Infancy (SUDI), including SIDS and lethal sleeping mishaps, which continue to be the most prevalent cause of mortality for individuals aged 1 to 1 year.

Objective: The study aimed to assess safe baby sleep practices and associated factors among women receiving immunizations at government healthcare facilities in Dessie Town.

Design: An institution-based cross-sectional study.

Methods: We conducted interviews with a total of 392 mothers using semi-structured questionnaires at public health facilities of Dessie town, in 2021. After the data were entered into the EPI data version 3.1, SPSS 23 was utilized for the analysis. Additionally, multivariate and binary logistic regression analyses were carried out. In multivariate analysis, a P-value less than .05 indicate a significant association.

Results: About 38.3%, 21.9%, and 14.7% had safe infant sleep practice regarding sleep position, no soft-bedding and sleep arrangement respectively. Significant association was observed between safe infant sleep position with baby age less than 3 months (AOR = 2.96, 95% CI = 1.50-5.84), baby age of 7 to 9 months (AOR = 3.84, 95% CI = 2.15-6.85), maternal level of education(AOR = 4.48, 95% CI = 1.87-10.76), relative/friend as their source of information (AOR = 1.98, 95% CI = 1.14-3.44), grandmother as their source of information (AOR = 1.89, 95% CI = 1.00-3.57).Additionally, baby age 4 to 6 months (AOR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.19-0.94) and maternal level of education (AOR = 0.19, 95% CI = 0.04-0.92) shows a significant safe infant bed arrangement practice. Furthermore, baby age of 10 to 12 months (AOR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.25-0.98) and maternal education level of college and above (AOR = 3.44, 95% CI = 1.18-10.03) also shows significant association with safe soft-bedding practice.

Conclusion: Mothers' safe infant sleep practices were found to be low in Dessie town. Therefore, efforts should be made to enhance mothers' attentiveness and engagement. This will help them follow healthy infant sleep practices.