What is Safer Sleep Week?
This is an annual campaign from the Lullaby Trust to support in safer sleep for infants and babies, bringing awareness to safe sleep practices to ensure your little one's safety. This year's theme is around the "Safest Place". As quoted by the Lullaby Trust -
"The simplest way to do this is by sleeping a baby on their back on a firm, flat surface with no padded or cushioned areas. This will help to keep their airways open and reduce the risk of suffocation and SIDS. A cot, Moses basket, bassinet, carry cot, or crib all fulfil these criteria."
We all want to create a safe and secure environment for our baby's sleep. And there are many products widely available which are not safe and unfortunately cause tragedies every year. Empowering parents to make decisions by providing them with guidance is hugely important in this, as it is easy to be recommended and sold unsafe products or habits. And I wish I'd known more of this when my kids were younger!
What are some changes you can make right now?
Keep your baby in the same room as you for the first 6 months
Ensure your baby's sleep space is not close to radiators to avoid over heating
Ensure safe sleepwear - age appropriate sleep bags are a great solution and to avoid loose blankets.
Ensure the temperature of the room is consistent.
Your baby should be on their back, at the foot of the cot.
Keep the cot clear of toys, loose fittings and bumpers.
Keep your baby smoke free
Ensure a safe space for baby for every sleep.
You can download the Safer Sleep Week Info Pack here - Media-Info-Pack-SSW24.pdf (lullabytrust.org.uk)
We are also focusing on Safe Sleep Week and Co-sleeping over in the "Exhausted to Thriving Membership" this week - you can join here and learn all about why we may need to learn how to do this safely even when we don't plan to!