Sleep expert calls for multi-agency approach to help reduce SUDI

In the UK, sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) clusters in the most vulnerable families for whom the universal provision of infant sleep safety guidance appears to be ineffective. Leading infant sleep expert, Professor Helen Ball from Durham University’s Infancy and Sleep Centre, has published a new report – Eyes on the Baby – which details key recommendations for implementing multi-agency SUDI prevention. These include:

• involving staff in all family-facing services with day-to-day contact with families and babies in SUDI prevention measures
• setting out clear expectations on roles and responsibilities within those services
• providing appropriate and ongoing training, evaluation, and engagement in SUDI prevention.

The Eyes on the Baby project has been developed in County Durham to provide tailored training and guidance for people working in family-facing services and that have everyday contact with families and babies who may be at higher risk of SUDI because of their circumstances. This has included staff from a broad range of areas across the local authority and partner services. Following a successful pilot, it is now being extended to Northumberland.

Professor Ball says: “Safer sleep guidance has reduced the number of SUDI deaths dramatically over the past 30 years, but around 300 babies still die every year in the UK. Our research recommends all professionals who work with families and babies be equipped with training to develop their knowledge, skills, and confidence to help remove barriers to safe infant sleep and thereby prevent SUDI. Making SUDI prevention everyone’s business maximises the opportunity to ensure families are familiar with safe sleep information, and are able to implement it, with the ultimate goal of saving babies’ lives.”

For more information on the project visit: https://eyesonthebaby.org.uk