55% of parents unaware of safe sleep for babies??

[TinfoilHattie]

Woman talking about sudden infant death on BBC just said that 55% of parents are unaware of the very basics of safe sleeping for newborns - sleeping on their back, in a clear cot. They also mentioned things like not covering their heads and only sleeping in bed with you if you're not drunk but that's not the 55% thing - just the very basics of sleeping on their backs without loads of clutter around them.

Where are all these people who do not know this? I had my first in 2003 and it was drummed into me, several times. Anne Diamond has been campaigning on putting babies on their back for about 25 years, and very effectively too.

Rubbish statistic, or are parents really so ignorant?

The advice seems to change on a regular basis.

Look at the current advice and see if it makes sense.

If it doesn't work for you, do what does, as most ppl have done in the past.

@MrEBear as the op said, a bedside cot or bed guard. The baby should never, ever be in the middle. Nor should they be under the duvet - another one lots ignore/don't know.

I got cut off by two friends for saying this, but imo one of the reasons many put their babies in their own room is because people have forgotten that small babies aren't meant to sleep all night. The race to get them to sleep through is for the benefit of the parents, not the baby. I'm aware that things have changed in terms of we work more etc, but tiny babies are not meant to sleep through until they are naturally ready. I know who moved for disturbance reasons than space.

The advice has been consistent since the early nineties.

Youngest DC is 15, never heard of safe sleep, brought my DC up using common sense. Never did them any harm, or anyone I knew.

Ok but the child can turn itself over at 6 weeks which is not normal, but he does.

So the rules are a little arbitrary.

Anon I am really surprised you hadn't heard about Anne Diamond's son who died of SIDS and the resulting campaigns from that. I was born in the 80s (when it happened) but am still very aware due to many subsequent news articles etc.

Mum2jenny can the baby safely turn back over from his front? Personally I would turn them back if it were my baby (however many times needed) or speak to the health visitor about it. The safer sleep advice has been around since the early 90s so isn't changing all the time.

But you can't watch the child 24/7.

Let the babe sleep how it wants.

NerrSnerr, I remember the name Anne Diamond from breakfast TV when I was young. But I never ran in the crowd that followed celebrity magazines, nor did most people I know. Why would most people know about her son?

From reading this thread it doesn't even seem obvious what safe sleeping is. So unless I hear other wise I will continue advocating common sense.

Completely agree with you NerrSnerr. There have been a number of national campaigns to raise awareness over the years. Personally I think people just choose to ignore advice if it doesn't fit with what they believe. The first big campaign I remember was in '91 - I would have been just starting secondary school.

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep

It is not common sense to ignore the advice that has been proven to reduce the risk of SIDS.

Mine was in a grobag straight away - think min weight was 9lb but she was 9 15 at birth!

I do think people ignore it and want the cot to look pretty or fun. I had my DC in 2012 and 2014 and the message was hammered home then. Plus there was advice about safe co sleeping if that's what you wanted.

mine were both front sleepers, seems totally natural to me and it is what settled them.

I was aware of the back is best or whatever it was called but personally I listened to the matriarchs in my family who I could actually see evidence of keeping a child through infancy.

I see it on the "mummy" Facebook groups all the time - cots full of toys, cot bumpers, canopies that can be pulled down, loads of non-cellular blankets

I struggle to comprehend why anyone would risk their baby. All of my family refused to follow the guidelines because the 'matriarchs' said it never did any of them any harm.

The same 'matriarchs' also could not see the issue with smoking around babies and children and thought asbestos was a fabulous invention

My babies cots had duvets and pillows, but they were purely decoration (once up they didn't go back in their cots during the day) and they were taken out at bedtime.

And one of mine would not sleep on their backs, no matter what...

Bakeoffbiscuits yiu suprise me as mine are late 20s and 30s and I had the feet at bottom so they can't slip down rammed into me.

Other than that and don't overheat, try to breast feed, pretty much everything else has changed for my DGCs. Fashion? Yes - some but hasn't the cot death rate halved or something?

One DD is a paediatric nurse and tells me there's a move to actually ban the sale of cot bumpers.

ferment sorry but we shall have to agree to disagree on this one. How is it a risk when every female relation in a large extended family has the same promise?
Smoking and asbestos are totally unrelated to this topic, in my opinion.

I also find it bizarre when older family members push their opinions on people. My Nana brought me up and she was adamant I should listen to all the new guidelines and told me to appreciate knowing things people of her generation and the generation before would have loved to have known to help safeguard their child.

And I bet nobody now does everything their elders did - no lead-paint cots for starters.

The 55% surely will depend on the age of the parent. Anyone with their youngest aged 25 ish wouldn't know about sleeping because swaddled and on the front was the norm.
My eldest is in his early 20's and swaddling was still recommended then. I remembering arguing with mil and hv as he didn't like it and they kept saying I had to

In the UK 25 years ago the putting on backs to sleep was more widely rammed into people than it is now.

When I was an older teenager, everybody knew someone whose baby had died, it was in some ways treated as almost normal.

Now it is rare.

I think that is what causes people to not listen or to ignore

I was always told that using a "safe t sleep" was a good idea for babies who wriggle up and down before rolling.

My midwife also gave me a special wedge so baby could lie on his side and then you switch sides to prevent getting a flat spot at the back of the head.

My sister in law does CIO from 6 weeks, baby in their own bed with loads of blankets and dressed in a ridiculous amount of layers. She is a parent educator and a nurse!

Bedroom I should say not bed!

Not true to say rules are always changing as it it is done to be annoying. Research and knowledge over time changes what we know to improve safety.

Rather like car seats which we know know is best to extended rear face until 4 years old or thereabouts (6 x safer than forward facing seats). That's not to say people that forward faced were wrong , it's just we know more now but it takes time for the word to spread.

Know better - Do better is my motto

I think what some people are losing sight of is that the "back to sleep" and safe sleeping advice is for newborns. Most cot deaths are of babies between birth and four months. We're not talking about 10 month olds who are crawling, or 3 year olds with duvets and toys in their beds. The advice about sleeping on their backs, with no loose bedding and no bumpers/toys is for the first six months of life.

Once your baby is rolling, moving around cot by themselves and can move position when sleeping, you can put in the cot bumpers, add the duvets and let them sleep in their own room or on their front.