MIDWIVES in the Bradford district have been supporting a new campaign aimed at combating cot deaths.

The maternity team at Airedale Hospital has been raising awareness of safe sleep practices with new and expectant parents.

Members of the team manned an information stall outside the maternity unit, Ward 21.

The initiative was part of national Safer Sleep Week, staged by the Lullaby Trust to reduce the risk of cot death, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Dr Shirley Brierley, public health consultant for Bradford Council, said: "The advice is to place your baby on their back to sleep – in its own cot in the same room with you.

"Place them so their feet touch the end of the cot and never sleep with your baby on a sofa or armchair.

"Keeping your home smokefree and breastfeeding if you can may also reduce the risks. Try not to let your baby become too hot and keep your baby's head uncovered when asleep."

Liz Osborne, infant feeding co-ordinator at Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We wanted to raise awareness about safe sleep practices which can help reduce the risk of SIDS.

"All of our parent education classes have also discussed safe sleeping and offered information.

"One of the risks we have been focusing on is making sure babies are never in the same bed as parents who have consumed alcohol or smoke or take medication or drugs that may alter their level of consciousness."

Bradford has been at the forefront of research into cot deaths. Research carried out in the city as part of the Born in Bradford study found that the way South Asian women care for their babies could hold the key to why a section of Bradford’s community is at lower risk of experiencing SIDS.

Born in Bradford staff interviewed more than 3,000 women across the city about their sleeping arrangements between 2008 and 2009 in a bid to understand if ethnic differences in infant care could explain why fewer South Asian babies compared to white British children were susceptible to SIDS.

The results from 2,180 families were analysed, of which 55.8 per cent were South Asian.

At the time, Principal investigator and Bradford Teaching Hospitals’ paediatrician Dr Eduardo Moya said: “We know that in Bradford, families of South Asian origin have a low rate of SIDS (0.2/1,000 live births). Our research study set out to find out why this was.

“We found that Bradfordians of Pakistani origin follow Foundation Study of Infant Deaths’ guidelines closely in that they do not smoke or drink during or after pregnancy; they do not place their babies to sleep in separate rooms, and they have a high incidence of breast-feeding. However, we also found that it was much more common for Pakistani-origin mothers to share a bed with their baby.

“This finding was in comparison to some of the white British mothers who did drink, did smoke and were more likely to sofa-share with their infants.

“So we believe, given that Sudden Infant Death is rare in Bradford’s Pakistani community, this may indicate that infant and parent bed-sharing is safe when it is done under certain circumstances like those characteristics practiced among South Asian women described above.”

Visit nhs.uk or lullabytrust.org.uk/promotingsafebabycare for more details.