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Introduction:
Tameside, Bolton, Salford and Wigan Safeguarding Children Boards and the Tripartite Child Death Overview Panel support the Department of Health (DH) and the Foundation for the Study of Infant deaths (FSID) advice that infants under the age of six months should sleep in their own cot, crib or moses basket, in the same room as their parent(s).
This is in response to the risk factors associated with co-sleeping and bed sharing. Parents should always be advised that it is safest for their infant to sleep in his or her own cot, next to the parents’ bed for the first six months of age.
All fathers and mothers should be informed of the potential risks associated with bed sharing and co-sleeping and the measures that can be taken to reduce risk.
It is also important for all parents to be aware of the risks of falling asleep with their infant on a sofa or armchair and to avoid this.
It is recognised that the factors which influence the sleeping arrangements of infants and children are a combination of parental values, socio-economic factors and cultural diversity.
Purpose of Guidelines:
The purpose of these guidelines is to enable staff to give appropriate information and advice to parents to enable them to make an informed choice about safe sleeping arrangements for their babies and infants by: -
- Providing guidance to workers on what a safe sleeping environment for parents and babies looks like using current national and international evidence.
- Increasing workers’ knowledge and understanding of the risk factors and why they are risk factors.
- Increasing parent’s knowledge and understanding of the risks associated with intentional or unintentional co-sleeping and bed sharing.
- Promoting consistent information and advice to parents on co-sleeping and bed sharing with their infant across all organisations.
- Supporting workers in all organisations to contribute to promoting the message.
- Contributing to the successful implementation of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Baby Friendly Initiative.
Target Audience:
The guidance should be read and used by all workers providing support or services to mothers, fathers, the infant or wider family members who care for the child. This includes all workers in either the statutory, voluntary, community or private sector.
The guidance not only gives practical information on what the key risk factors are and why, but also outlines what individual organisations and workers can do to promote this message.
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