Recent research and policy around sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) have highlighted the importance of SUDI prevention strategies focusing on safe sleep messages, particularly among Māori, who feature prominently in SUDI rates (e.g., between 2002 and 2009 the Māori death rate from suffocation in the place of sleep was 8.22 times the European rate). This paper reviews Māori-initiated innovations for safer infant sleep environments. The development of the wahakura (a flax bassinet modelled on a traditional Māori infant sleeping item) in Gisborne in 2006 proved highly acceptable with Māori and also effective as an infant health promotion vehicle. Since then, the making of wahakura has been promoted by the Māori SIDS Prevention Programme (now known as Whakawhetu) and regional wahakura projects have been developed in Northland, Auckland and the Waikato. The less expensive pēpi-pod portable beds are also proving to be highly acceptable, with an evaluation of their use among primarily Māori and Pacific families reporting that many mothers appreciated being able to confidently have their baby close by, in or on the parental bed. Research is currently being undertaken to provide robust evidence for the safety of these infant sleeping devices, as is the exploration of similar alternatives. The paper’s authors suggest that utilising and adapting indigenous infant sleeping methods may also prove appropriate in other countries where SIDS/SUDI persists in indigenous and other marginalised communities.
