Infant Care and Infant Health Resources

Links to websites of groups that study or provide information about infant care and infant health.

General Information

Services, Resources, and Support

Car Safety

Childhood Vaccinations

SIDS Risk Reduction

Tips and Tools for Infant Care and Safety

  • Safety Checklists external link and more are available from the AAP external link. This website offers downloadable growth charts, immunization records, and safety checklists.
  • The AAP offers information about starting solid foods external link and other nutrition topics external link.
  • Babies Need Tummy Time! explains the importance of making sure infants get enough time on their tummies to help their physical development.
  • The Consumer Product Safety Commission offers a booklet entitled The Safe Nursery. This booklet can help parents and caregivers prevent dangers from furniture and baby equipment.
  • The AAP maintains a listing of pediatric healthcare providers that can be accessed here: Find a Pediatrician external link.
  • All About Sleep external link , produced by the AAFP, is an article (also available as an audio recording) that helps parents and caregivers understand their child's need for sleep and the child's sleep patterns. It also offers tips to establish a bedtime routine that can help the whole family get a good night's sleep.

Please note: Links to organizations and information included on this page do not indicate endorsement from NICHD, NIH, or HHS.

  • Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Branch (IDDB)
    NICHD’s IDDB, part of the Division of Extramural Research (DER), sponsors research and research training aimed at preventing and ameliorating intellectual and related developmental disabilities.
  • Pediatric Growth and Nutrition Branch (PGNB)
    The PGNB, part of the DER, is the focal point within NICHD for nutrition science and pediatric endocrine research and training. The PGNB is supporting several areas of research pertinent to infant care and infant health. For example, the Growth and Development program is focusing on basic research about growth-promoting polypeptides and hypothalamic-releasing factors that interact to influence normal growth and physiological development. PGNB also supports basic and clinical studies of the etiology of growth retardation and treatment for this disorder.
  • Pregnancy and Perinatology Branch (PPB)
    The mission of NICHD’s PPB, part of the DER, is to improve the health of mothers and children, with focuses on maternal health, pregnancy, fetal well-being, labor and delivery, and the developing child. The PPB supports research to determine the basic mechanisms of normal and disease processes; identify new treatments, methodologies, and preventive strategies; assess the dissemination and actual impact of therapeutic and preventive interventions; and increase scientific resources through recruitment and training of investigators.
    • NICHD Neonatal Research Network (NRN) is a collaborative network of 18 neonatal intensive care units and a data coordinating center, formed in 1986. NRN’s mission is “to facilitate the advancement of neonatal care by establishing a network of academic centers that, by rigorous patient evaluation using common protocols, can study the required numbers of patients and can provide answers more rapidly than individual centers acting alone.”
  • Division of Intramural Research (DIR)
    Research within NICHD’s DIR includes the development of vaccines for bacterial diseases, especially those found in children. DIR investigators study, uncover, and reevaluate clinical, epidemiologic, and immunologic data. They evaluate investigational vaccines suitable for clinical study in experimental animals and then submit them to the appropriate institutional review board and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for evaluation of their safety and immunogenicity in adults, children, and infants, and, finally, for their efficacy.
  • Safe to Sleep® Public Education Campaign
    NICHD is the lead agency in support of the Safe to Sleep campaign. This important educational effort, formerly known as the Back to Sleep campaign, focuses on actions parents and infant caregivers can take to help infants sleep safely and to reduce the risk of SIDS and other causes of infant death. The Safe to Sleep® campaign incorporates NICHD’s research findings on SIDS, as well as the latest safe sleep recommendations.
  • American Association of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD): Guideline on Infant Oral Health Care external link (PDF 66 KB)
    In this document, updated in 2011, the AAPD proposes recommendations for preventive strategies, risk assessment of oral health, anticipatory guidance, and therapeutic interventions to be followed by dental, medical, nursing, and allied health professional programs.
  • American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP): SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Expansion of Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment external link
    This 2011 report updates the AAP's recommendations for further reducing sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and other sleep-related deaths of infants.
  • American Academy of Pediatrics, Policy Statement on Circumcision external link
    This statement discusses the benefits and risks of circumcision as well as other factors to consider when discussing the procedure with families. It recommends use of procedural analgesia if circumcision is performed.
  • Child Health USA 2011
    This report of the Health Resources and Services Administration (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) is the 21st annual statistical report to highlight the health status and service needs of America's children. It provides data to practitioners of child health to assist them in planning, developing, and implementing effective programs to meet public health challenges related specifically to children. The report contains easy-to-access graphs and charts summarizing significant indicators of children's health status and offers statistics, figures, and references.
  • Datasets from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD)
    The SECCYD is a comprehensive longitudinal study initiated by NICHD in 1991 to answer questions about the relationships between child care experiences, characteristics of child care, and children's developmental outcomes. Qualified researchers may apply to use the datasets.
  • Early Childhood Obesity Prevention Policies external link
    This report by the Institute of Medicine reviews factors related to overweight and obesity among children from birth to age 5 years, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behavior. It recommends policies that can alter children's environments to promote the maintenance of healthy weight. The first years of life are important to health status and well-being throughout the life span, and preventing obesity in infants and young children can contribute to reversing the epidemic of obesity in children and adults.
  • NICHD, Continuing Education Program on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Risk Reduction: Curriculum for Nurses
    Knowing SIDS risk-reduction techniques and how to communicate effectively with parents and other caregivers about this problem can help nurses make a difference in just a few minutes. This free continuing education (CE) program on reduction of the risk of SIDS offers 1.1 CE credit hours from the Maryland Nurses Association.
  • NICHD, Healthy Native Babies Training Resource (PDF 3.59 MB)
    The information and materials created for the Healthy Native Babies Project were crafted and revised with the feedback of American Indian/Alaska Native community members, who used the messages at numerous trainings held in U.S. Northern Tier communities. The aim of this resource is preventing SIDS in American Indian/Alaska Native communities.

Please note: Links to organizations and information included on this page do not indicate endorsement from NICHD, NIH, or HHS.