Warren Non-Profit Continues To Keep Babies Safe

WARREN, NJ — Keeping Babies Safe — a Warren-based nonprofit organization that promotes safe sleeping practices for infants, as well as banning dangerous products from the market — celebrated its second-annual National Keeping Babies Safe Day.

As part of the event, KBS hosted an awards ceremony in Green Brook to celebrate corporate and community partners who have helped lead the cause over the past year.

Honorees included:

• Dr. Barbara Ostfeld, Program Director for the SIDS Center of New Jersey and High Risk Infant Follow-up Program
• Newton Baby
• Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and Children’s Hospital of New Jersey.

“We are beyond grateful to our honorees for standing by us in the fight for safe sleep,” said Joyce Davis, KBS president and co-founder, who lost her four-month-old son to a preventable crib accident. “Our achievements are a direct result of our partners in action.

People truly believe in this important cause and continue to invigorate it,” she added. “Keeping Babies Safe Day is for them and for all the families who can play a part each day in promoting crib safety to keep babies safe.”

Currently, there is legislation in Trenton that is being spearheaded by Sen. Teresa Ruiz and Assemblyman Jamel Holley, calling for a ban on the sale of supplemental baby mattresses in the state. The bill has received unanimous Assembly approval, unanimous approval of the Senate Commerce Committee and is now before the Senate Budget Committee.

“This bill is too important,” Holley said. “This is about protecting our babies. Together, we will do everything we can to ban this dangerous product. The time to act is now.”

KBS has been successful in educating many new parents about the dangers of supplemental mattresses in portable cribs. KBS has urged major retailers to stop selling supplemental mattresses, including Target, Toys 'R Us, buy buy BABY, Kmart, Sears and Wayfair.

Meanwhile, Amazon and Walmart have pledged to undertake internal investigations into the dangers of the product, while they await a federal ruling expected for later this year.

Learn more about the work of KBS at keepingbabiessafe.org.

(Images provided)

Photo 1: Keeping Babies Safe President and Co-Founder Joyce Davis (center) with Honoree Dr. Barbara Outfield (left) and Assemblyman Jamel C. Holley.

Photo 2: Keeping Babies Safe President and Co-Founder Joyce Davis (second from left) and representatives from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (from left) Patricia Mitrano, Marilyn Harris, and Linda Kamateh.

Photo 3: Keeping Babies Safe President and Co-Founder Joyce Davis (center), Chris Ann Ernst, SVP of Newton Baby (left) and Krystal Blackman-Navarrete, Director of User Experience at Newton Baby.

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