Baby mentor advice broadcast on Channel 4 puts babies' lives at risk 

26 September 2007

Baby mentor advice broadcast on Channel 4 puts babies’ lives at risk, warns cot death charity

Baby care advice shown on last night’s (25 September) Channel 4 programme Bringing Up Baby increases the risk of cot death, warns FSID, the UK’s leading cot death charity.

Advice on the programme that a baby should sleep in its own bedroom from day one has, in fact, been found to double the risk of cot death. FSID and the Department of Health both advise that the safest place for babies to sleep for the first six months is in a cot in a room with their parents and not in the baby’s own room. Research(1) shows that a baby who sleeps in a separate room from the parents is nearly twice as likely to die as a cot death than one who shares a room with the parents.

Other advice shown on the programme is also risky. Sharing a bed with your baby can be dangerous, especially if you are a smoker, have drunk alcohol or taken drugs that make you sleepy, or if your baby was premature, of low birth weight or is under three months old.

Joyce Epstein, FSID’s Director, criticised Channel 4 for airing a programme offering risky advice without making clear the danger such practices pose. “Parents today are bombarded by all sorts of contradictory childcare advice, and Channel 4 should have made clear that there is evidence that some of the Bringing Up Baby mentors’ advice carries a risk.”

Cot death is still the biggest killer of babies over one month old in the UK today, claiming more lives than road traffic accidents, leukaemia and meningitis put together.


Notes to editors:

(1) The UK’s largest ever cot death study (Fleming, P et al (2000), Sudden Unexpected Deaths in Infancy – the CESDI/SUDI Studies, The Stationery Office, London) found that babies who did not share a room their parents were 1.96 times more likely to die as a cot death than babies who slept in the same room as their parents but not in the same bed.

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths is the UK’s leading baby charity working to prevent sudden deaths and promote infant health. FSID funds research, supports bereaved families, promotes baby care advice, and works to improve investigations when a baby dies.

FSID runs a Helpline (020 7233 2090) for parents and professionals seeking advice on safe baby care. The Helpline also supports bereaved families. Advice for parents and professionals can also be found at www.fsid.org.uk

 

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