Co-sleeping and SIDS

This infographic and guidance supports health professionals when discussing co-sleeping and SIDS with parents.

Giving them all the facts and figures, this accessible guide assists health professionals to take a sensible, proportionate and parent-centred approach in order to find practical solutions to this complex issue.

Please note, this infographic has been updated in October 2019 to reflect the most recent statistics on unexplained infant death. 

For more support on discussing these issues with parents, see our Having meaningful conversations with mothers and Caring for Your Baby at Night guides. We have also collaborated with The Lullaby Trust, Public Health England, and Basis (Baby Sleep Info Source, Durham University) to create a range of resources for parents and health professionals featuring accessible guidance on safer sleep practices. You may also wish to look at Building a Happy Baby, a useful guide for getting relationships and feeding off to a good start.

For more information on current research, see our dedicated research pages on infant sleep.

Further resources

The Baby Sleep Information Source (Basis) is an informational source for parents who wish to make informed choices about their infant’s sleep and night time care, and is the result of a collaboration between the Durham University Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, La Leche League, NCT, and the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative.

We have also collaborated with The Lullaby Trust, Public Health England, and Basis to create a range of resources for parents and health professionals, with accessible guidance on safer sleep practices. The following are available to download and buy on The Lullaby Trust website:

• • Safer Sleep for Babies: A Guide for Parents
  • Safer Sleep for Babies: Saving Babies’ Lives – A Guide for Professionals
  • Safer Sleep for Babies: Quick Reference Card.