The Scottish Government has updated the current advice for all new mums in its leaflet “Reduce the Risks”. This leaflet is to be given to every new mum in Scotland from Tuesday (January 18). It will set out guidance for new parents on how to reduce the risk of their baby dying from cot death.
Cot death is the biggest single cause of death in infants aged between one week and one year. This year is the 20th anniversary of the Back to Sleep campaign, which explained how parents could reduce the likelihood of cot death affecting their baby, so the Government’s new information initiative is very timely. The initial campaign twenty years ago led to a dramatic reduction in the number of cot deaths, but it is still something that affects a family nearly every week in Scotland. The Government advice could help to save lives. The new ‘Reduce the Risks’ leaflet will be launched in Edinburgh on January 18 by the Minister for Public Health and Sport, Shona Robison MSP.
The Scottish Cot Death Trust had input into the development of the leaflet, along with other experts such as midwives, health visitors and paediatricians and representatives from the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative. It reinforces long-standing advice about the importance of placing a baby on its back, and stresses that the safest place for a baby to sleep is in a cot, in the parents’ room, for the first six months. There is also new information, based on the latest research, which sets out the circumstances in which bed-sharing should never occur. For example, if parents are smokers, even if they never smoke in the house; if they have drunk any alcohol whatsoever; or if they have taken prescribed medication or drugs which could make them sleepy. Parents are advised not to smoke anywhere in the home or car. Other new information includes a clear statement that breastfeeding reduces the risks of cot death and that there may be benefits in using a dummy. Advice about the use of dummies is that breastfeeding mothers should wait until breastfeeding is established before offering a dummy to their baby. Click here to download a copy of the new leaflet.
