ARC Impacts
‘All Eyes on the Baby’
Preventing Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI)
A staff training programme developed as part of a project funded by the ARC North East and North Cumbria is helping to prevent unexpected infant deaths.
Rates of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) have fallen sharply in the UK over the last 30 years, largely due to wide-scale infant sleep messaging, such as the Lullaby Trust’s ‘Back to Sleep’ campaign.
As a result, most sudden and unexpected deaths of babies now cluster in our most deprived communities – where simple public health messages can be difficult to implement.
Factors that increase the rate of SUDI include:
- Babies being placed on their front or side for sleep rather than their back
- Being exposed to smoke during pregnancy or after birth
- Being placed to sleep in unsafe situations such as in a cot full of soft toys or loose bedding
- Sleeping with a parent on a sofa, sleeping with an intoxicated parent, or sleeping in a room alone.
The way to help most families avoid this is to provide information about infant sleep safety.
However, some families miss the opportunity to receive this information because of often complex reasons – including their own life circumstances or mental wellbeing.
Developing a new training programme
The ‘Eyes on the Baby’ training and implementation programme was developed in response to Government recommendations which proposed taking a multi-agency approach to SUDI prevention – particularly when working with families who may be at higher risk of SUDI because of their circumstances.
‘Multi-agency’ means involving a wide range of staff whose work brings them into contact with vulnerable families with babies – including professionals such as housing officers, social workers, health visitors, police and paramedics.
The project has been led by Professor Helen Ball from Durham University’s Infancy and Sleep Centre, and supported by a wide range of partners.
Watch the video
The Eyes on the Baby project brought together partners from across the North East to develop an evidence-based training and implementation package to prevent SUDI.
This training, delivered online, helps staff to spot unsafe sleep situations and offer appropriate advice – implementing what they have learned to prevent avoidable infant deaths in our most vulnerable communities.
The impact so far
- 650 staff in County Durham have completed the training and are now putting it into practice
- 627 staff in Northumberland have completed the training and are now putting it into practice
- It is now being rolled out across Darlington Borough Council
Emergency services have an important role to play in SUDI prevention – they are likely to have the opportunity to step in at crucial moments when babies’ safety needs may be overlooked by families experiencing crises
- The North East Ambulance Service recently made the training available to its entire workforce
- Durham Constabulary have booked training for 400 frontline officers and 200 PCSOs; 200 frontline officers have already completed the training and are now putting it into practice.
Staff who have undertaken the training are now putting into practice in their day-to-day interactions with families.
Here are just some of their comments:
“I was also able to start a confident discussion about the Moses basket and understand why it wasn’t used and direct parents to relevant information.”
“When the child woke in the night parents were taking child downstairs and laying on the settee with the child until he fell back to sleep. Open conversation with mum and working together to establish alternative (less hazardous) solutions.”
“Guidance was given to a mum of premature twins who had been thinking about placing one of their babies to sleep on their tummy. She responded well to information being shared and this enabled her to come to decision for baby to sleep on their back.”
“Baby sleeping in pod on sofa, explained the risks and not to leave baby unsupervised. Parents changed the ways in which they did things.”
Read the full range of feedback so far.
Jenny Ward, Chief Executive of The Lullaby Trust, said: “This has been a fantastic project to be involved with. The Lullaby Trust has been working hard for over 50 years to try and prevent sudden infant deaths, and we now know that to achieve this we need everyone on board with keeping babies safe. Eyes on the Baby proves that this can work, and we are looking forward to seeing how we can all learn from and expand this work.”
The work was made possible through support from the NIHR ARC North East and North Cumbria’s Open Funding Competition – which allocated small amounts of funding to a total of 53 projects that aimed to aim to improve health and social care outcomes in communities and sectors facing the greatest challenges.
The initial project brought together key partners including Durham University’s Infancy and Sleep Centre, Durham Integrated Care Board, Durham County Council Public Health Team and partners to develop this multi-agency approach.
Its real-world impact will continue to be evaluated.
Read more about the Eyes on the Baby work