Advice for parents to reduce the risk of cot death

• Cut smoking in pregnancy — fathers too! And don’t let anyone smoke in the same room as your baby
• Place your baby on the back to sleep (and not on the front or side)
• Do not let your baby get too hot, and keep your baby’s head uncovered
• Place your baby with their feet to the foot of the cot, to prevent them wriggling down under the covers, or use a Baby Sleep Bag
• Never sleep with your baby on a sofa or armchair
• The safest place for your baby to sleep is in a crib or cot in a room with you for the first six months
• It is especially dangerous for your baby to sleep in your bed if you (or your partner):
• Are a smoker, even if you never smoke in bed or at home
• Have been drinking alcohol
• Take medication or drugs that make you drowsy
• Feel very tired
• Or if your baby was born before 37 weeks
• Weighed less than 2.5kg or 5½ lbs at birth
• Don’t forget, accidents can happen: you might roll over in your sleep and suffocate your baby; or your baby could get caught between the wall and the bed, or could roll out of an adult bed and be injured
• Settling your baby to sleep (day and night) with a dummy can reduce the risk of cot death, even if the dummy falls out while your baby is asleep
• Breastfeed your baby. Establish breastfeeding before starting to use a dummy
• This advice is reproduced courtesy of FSID.

www.fsid.org.uk
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