Province launches new website for new, expectant parents

The Manitoba government launched a new parenting website Wednesday that responds to recommendations in a provincial advocate’s report on the unexpected sleep-related deaths of 145 infants.

Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said the Parenting in Manitoba website was developed alongside local public health experts to provide trusted information to new and expectant parents.

“In a time where… we see a lot of online misinformation doing a lot of harms to families, we thought it was really important to make sure that we are amplifying the work of experts who are committed to making sure that families have accurate, evidence-based information to keep themselves and their loved ones, and their little ones, healthy and safe,” Asagwara said at a news conference in Winnipeg.

The website has more than 120 articles on topics from infant feeding to mental health. It can be translated into more than 200 languages.

Asagwara said the website speaks to two recommendations in a 2020 report by Manitoba’s advocate for children and youth.

The report, titled Shifting the Lens, re-examined the issue of sleep-related infant deaths, with a focus on the government’s increased responsibility for prevention.

It examined the circumstances around 145 Manitoba infants who died unexpectedly in their sleep or in a sleeping environment between 2009 and 2018.

The advocate’s recommendations included improved access to information and resources related to safe sleep surfaces.

“The website is one way to accomplish this work, and my hope is that there are additional plans to disseminate information to communities that do not have internet access,” Sherry Gott, the advocate for children and youth since 2022, said in a statement.

Her team is analyzing recent updates from government departments to assess the province’s progress on the report’s recommendations.

The province said health-care staff have been encouraged to use the site when they meet with families, and the articles and resources are easy to print or share.

When it launched Wednesday, the website’s front page featured articles about safe sleeping for babies, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and measles amid one of the worst outbreaks in decades.

Public health nurse Shauna Krawchuk, who helped develop the tool, said parents were seeking a website that was easy to read, with evidence-based articles that reflected real-life concerns.

The website, which a provincial spokesperson said, cost just over $23,000 to develop, has a map that links visitors to local public health sites.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca