Babies Safest In Own Cots - Experts Confirm But Survey Shows Too Many Mums Still Sceptical

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 15 Oct 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Latest findings by researchers from Bristol University published online in the British Medical Journal, confirm that "the safest place for a baby to sleep is in its own cot."

This four-year study*, funded by The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), found that in half of all unexpected deaths of children in the South West of England, babies had died sleeping with a parent or carer.

However, it is worrying that results of a separate survey published in the latest edition of Community Practitioner reveal that a quarter of mums were not persuaded that bedsharing can increase the risk of cot death.

This survey of infant care practices in the UK**, carried out by Ipsos MORI for FSID, questioned 506 mothers of children aged from six months to three years.

Results also showed a high degree of disbelief in other key 'Reduce the Risk' messages***.

FSID's director, Joyce Epstein, said: "Since 2000 FSID and the Department of Health have been advising parents to sleep their babies in a separate cot in a room with them, and we are pleased that the most up-to-date research confirms that this advice is correct.

"But the survey results are alarming. We know that those at greatest risk of experiencing a cot death are very young mums, often single, and still in their teens, and this group is the most likely to reject safe sleep advice."

In order to protect the most vulnerable babies, FSID has launched a new and innovative way to reach teenage parents: www.bubbalicious.co.uk, a baby-care focussed, social networking site for both mums and dads under 20.

*Case-control study of SIDS in Southwest England dangerous co-sleeping environments and risk factors amenable to change
Fleming et al January 2003 - December 2006

**Ipsos MORI interviewed 506 mothers in their homes during November 2007. Social grade E respondents were strategically oversampled to at least one-third of the total sample, in an attempt to increase the overall base of those perceived as the most economically disadvantaged.

***Sleep baby on the back, not side or front; don't expose babies to tobacco smoke

Source
University of Bristol

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