Sleep SAAF: Strong African American Families

Sleep SAAF:

The Sleep SAAF study delivered a responsive parenting intervention to provide information on how to soothe, how to distinguish hunger from other distress, how to promote self-soothing, and bedtime routines among infants.

Sleeping newborn baby with dark skin.

Project Details

Dates: March 2018-July 2021

PI: Justin Lavner

Sponsor: National Institute of Health

Clinical Trials: View Trial Details

Project Goals:

To understand whether providing mothers of newborns with responsive parenting guidance during the first weeks of life to promote infant sleep and soothing can reduce rapid weight gain for African American infants born in low SES contexts.

Project Findings and Resources:

Moore AM, Smith JJ, Stansfield BK, Savage JS, Lavner JA. Patterns and Predictors of Breast Milk Feeding from Birth to Age 4 Months among Primiparous African American Mother-Infant Dyads. Nutrients. 2022 Jun 4;14(11):2350. doi: 10.3390/nu14112350.

Lavner JA, Stansfield BK, Beach SRH, Brody GH, Birch LL. Sleep SAAF: a responsive parenting intervention to prevent excessive weight gain and obesity among African American infants. BMC Pediatr. 2019 Jul 5;19(1):224. doi: 10.1186/s12887-019-1583-7.

Lavner JA, Savage JS, Stansfield BK, Beach SRH, Marini ME, Smith JJ, Sperr MC, Anderson TN, Hernandez E, Moore AM, Caldwell AL, Birch LL. Effects of the Sleep SAAF responsive parenting intervention on rapid infant weight gain: A randomized clinical trial of African American families. Appetite. 2022 Aug 1;175:106080. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2022.106080. Epub 2022 May 13.

Hernandez E, Lavner JA, Moore AM, Stansfield BK, Beach SRH, Smith JJ, Savage JS. Sleep SAAF responsive parenting intervention improves mothers' feeding practices: a randomized controlled trial among African American mother-infant dyads. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2022 Oct 1;19(1):129. doi: 10.1186/s12966-022-01366-1.

Hohman EE, Savage JS, Stansfield BK, Lavner JA. Sleep SAAF Responsive Parenting Intervention for Black Mothers Impacts Response to Infant Crying: A Randomized Clinical Trial. Acad Pediatr. 2024 Jan-Feb;24(1):97-104. doi: 10.1016/j.acap.2023.04.012. Epub 2023 May 5. PMID: 37148966; PMCID: PMC10625644.

Project Contacts

Headshot of Jennifer Savage Williams

Jennifer Savage Williams

  • Professor
  • Director, Center for Childhood Obesity Research

jfs195@psu.edu

814-865-0514

Headshot of Justin Lavner

Justin Lavner

  • Professor, Director of Clinical Training, Clinical Program, University of Georgia