For years, the message has been clear: Put babies to sleep on their backs, by themselves, in a crib.

And yet the number of sudden infant death syndrome deaths -- almost all of them preventable -- has remained steady in recent years.

In Allegheny County this year, 10 babies have already died from SIDS, said Guillermo Cole of the county health department. Since 2005, 16 to 24 babies have died each year from sleep-related causes.

The health department promotes an ABC -- Alone, on Back, in Crib -- approach aimed at women of childbearing age.

But over the years, health professionals have realized that disseminating information through medical professionals isn't enough.

So the health department also is running public service ads in movie theaters, giving talks to community groups and reaching out to African-American churches.

The black community is disproportionately affected by SIDS, said Jerome Gloster, chief physician for maternal and child health at the county health department.

An examination of SIDS deaths between 2001 and 2006 found that 62.5 percent of the infants who died were African American, yet only 20 percent of the total babies born in Allegheny County during that period were African American. That means that black infants had a roughly 17 times greater chance of dying from SIDS than white infants.

Dr. Gloster believes that mothers are receiving the advice from medical professionals to put babies to sleep on their backs, in a crib with no blankets, toys or bumpers, but are disregarding that advice and listening instead to their mothers and grandmothers telling them how things used to be done.

"They say, 'I put 12 kids to sleep on their stomachs and they didn't die,' " said Dr. Gloster of the babies' grandmothers and great-grandmothers. "It wasn't just that infants were dying with no known risk factors. It was the opposite. Almost all of them were dying with known risk factors in place."

To reach the mothers and grandmothers giving outdated advice, Dr. Gloster started reaching out to black churches.

He connected with the Rev. Brenda Gregg, then at the Greater Allen A.M.E. Church on the North Side, who had begun a similar effort after the death of a baby in her congregation.

"We have a lot of grandmothers and aunties who have a lot of influence over young mothers," Rev. Gregg said. "The message that we've tried to get through is to make sure that your child is in a safe sleep zone."

Rev. Gregg has appeared in movie theaters and on the radio, and regularly passes out black and gold cards that display a baby sleeping alone in a crib.

Cribs are available for parents who cannot afford them through the Cribs for Kids program at SIDS of Pennsylvania. (1-800-721-7437; www.sids-pa.org)

"The fact is that we can keep babies safe by simply doing some small things," said Rev. Gregg, who now oversees 18 churches as a presiding elder. "We need to tell people this is real, this can happen to you, this can happen to your baby."

The county's examination of SIDS deaths between 2001 and 2006 found that of the 68 babies who had died from unexpected, sleep-related causes during that period, only two were in "ideal sleeping environments" in a crib, on their backs, in a non-smoking household.

Babies who are born premature and at a low birth weight have a significantly higher risk of SIDS, Mr. Cole said. The county's examination earlier this decade found additional risk factors for mothers, including single mothers, young mothers, and mothers who did not breastfeed, started prenatal care after the first trimester and who did not complete high school.

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