For families, meeting and getting to know their baby is an extremely exciting and rewarding time. It's also the beginning of a new relationship. Babies need a lot of sleep during the first few months of their lives so it's important to ensure that they are sleeping as safely as possible.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden and unexplained death of a baby where no cause is found. While SIDS is rare, it can still happen and there are steps parents can take to help reduce the chance of this tragedy occurring.

Talking with families about safer sleeping and supporting families to identify and reduce risks is key to help babies sleep safely. We have worked with a number of other groups and agencies across LLR to produce resources and guidance for practitioners from any agency, to support conversations with families about safer sleeping. The Safer Sleeping Risk Assessment tool & associated resources for practitioners and families can be found here:

LLR Safer Sleeping Resources

For national resources, please visit the Lullaby Trust: https://www.lullabytrust.org.uk/

ICON is a programme adopted by health and social care organisations in the UK to provide information about infant crying, including how to cope, support for parents/carers, how to reduce stress and prevent abusive head trauma in babies. More information can be found here:

LLR ICON Resources

To request hard copies of the button battery safety leaflets, please contact the team below:

Leicestershire County Council, Communications Unit

Telephone: 0116 305 7354

Email: comms@leics.gov.uk