First Candle and Dear Fathers announced a strategic partnership to work together to educate and support Black fathers around the country regarding infant safe sleep, breastfeeding support and the proper use of infant products.

The partnership with Dear Fathers allows First Candle to reach thousands of dads both in person and through their social media accounts who are engaged and committed to keeping their babies safe and preventing sleep-related infant death.

The Let’s Talk Community Chats Program:

Let’s Talk Community Chats create safe spaces where families can engage in open, culturally responsive conversations about safe sleep practices, breastfeeding, and infant care. These casual, drop-in events are facilitated by trained community members such as doulas, lactation consultants, grandparents, and dads, who are trusted within the community.

The program addresses systemic barriers and cultural challenges to adopting safe sleep practices and breastfeeding by offering solutions that respect families’ lived experiences. Let’s Talk facilitators receive training from First Candle on the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) safe sleep guidelines and breastfeeding support, ensuring that families receive accurate, nonjudgmental, and actionable information.

Key Features of the Program:

• Monthly events at locations where families already gather, such as retail stores,

laundromats, and community centers.

• One-on-one, in-depth conversations tailored to the unique needs of each family

member—parents, grandparents, and caregivers.

• Free resources like swaddles, diapers, infant feeding support pillows (Boppy’s), and

information on local social services to support safe sleep and breastfeeding practices.

Please email Destiny Stokes at [email protected] with any questions or concerns.

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About First Candle and Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID):

First Candle is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the incidence of Sudden Unexpected Infant Death (SUID) and supporting families who have experienced the heartbreaking loss of an infant. Since 2020, the rate of SUID has been increasing, reaching approximately 3,700 deaths in 2022

(CDC, 2024). Black infants are disproportionately impacted, with rates almost three times higher than those of white infants (CDC, 2024). Many of these deaths are preventable through the adoption of safe sleep practices, proper use of infant products, and breastfeeding, yet barriers like misinformation and limited access to culturally relevant resources persist.