Skills for the Job: Preventing sudden child death
Carly Binger
Monday, June 22, 2015
Children's professionals can play a major role in helping to halve the rate of sudden infant death syndrome in the UK by 2020.
What is the scale of the infant death problem?
The current unexplained infant death rate in the UK is higher than anywhere else in Western Europe. In the UK, 270 seemingly healthy babies die suddenly and unexpectedly each year and unfortunately for parents, no cause can be found.
Around 90 per cent of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) deaths happen in the first six months of a child's life, and children born to parents below the age of 20 are 2.5 times more likely to die of SIDS compared to babies born to parents aged 25 to 35.
Young parents are also less likely to access, understand or follow safer sleep information and, in many cases, are more likely to feel isolated from family and friends, which affects their emotional wellbeing.
At The Lullaby Trust, we have set ourselves a target of halving SIDS deaths by 2020.
What are the causes?
Researchers are yet to find a definitive cause of SIDS. However, evidence shows that there are several factors that can increase the risk of a baby or infant dying in their sleep.
An infant put to sleep on his or her front is 10 times more likely to die of SIDS than when placed on their back. If a baby is exposed to tobacco smoke while in the mother's womb or after birth, the risk of SIDS can also increase. Evidence suggests that 30 per cent of SIDS deaths could have been avoided if mothers did not smoke while pregnant. Co-sleeping, on a sofa or armchair, can increase the risk of SIDS by 50.
What is being done to tackle the problem?
In December 2014, The National Institute of Health & Care Excellence (NICE) released its recommendations to healthcare professionals on co-sleeping and SIDS.
The guidelines aim to help professionals have conversations about the potential risks of co-sleeping with families both before and after their baby is born.
To educate more young parents on the risks of co-sleeping, and other causes of SIDS, The Lullaby Trust launched a pilot peer education project - Bubbalicious Ambassadors. Over the past six months, we have recruited our first cohort of young parents who, through facilitated sessions, have been trained to deliver safer sleep talks to other young parents across London.
Not only does the project help us spread safer sleeping practices to vulnerable, young parents, it provides our ambassadors with peer-education skills they can cultivate and take with them into future employment. It also helps to reduce their isolation by connecting them with other young mums and dads who have gone through similar experiences.
How can children's professionals help reduce the risk of SIDS?
Most importantly, we encourage all professionals working with children and families to follow the NICE guidelines.
If all midwives, health visitors and GPs are able to spread key safer sleep information to all new parents in the UK, we could halve the number of SIDS deaths by 2020.
Professionals should also take note that we are currently redeveloping our Bubbalicious website and safer sleep materials to better reach young parents. We have been working alongside young people to ensure that the new materials and website are accessible and meet the needs of this group. Both the website and materials should be completed by the end of July.
Where can you get further advice and information?
For more information on safer sleep and SIDS, you can visit The Lullaby Trust website www.lullabytrust.org.uk or call our free information line on 0808 802 6869.
Top tips: safer sleep for babies
- Place baby on their back to sleep
- Keep the baby smoke free during pregnancy and after birth
- Place baby in a separate cot or Moses basket for the first six months
- Breastfeed if possible
- Use a firm, flat, waterproof mattress in good condition
By Carly Binger, Bubbalicious Ambassadors project manager, The Lullaby Trust