One in four sudden deaths of babies was result of co-sleeping
Co-sleeping led to more than a quarter of sudden baby deaths last year, Scotland’s prosecution service has said.
Last year, 74 babies aged under 18 months died. Of this number, 19 fatalities were caused by co-sleeping, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service found. In 12 of the cases, alcohol or drugs had been consumed by parents before the incident.
Ruth Charteris KC, Solicitor General for Scotland, urged families to follow safe sleeping advice, which states that parents should generally put their babies to sleep in their own cot or moses basket.
“Sudden infant deaths are rare but are without doubt one of the most devastating tragedies that a family could experience,” Ms Charteris said.
“We can see that overall, safer sleep advice has worked to save the lives of thousands of babies. However, I am saddened and greatly concerned by our findings which show unsafe co-sleeping is still happening.
“I can understand the challenges of getting enough sleep as a family, but expert advice should be followed. The evidence of the cases reported to the procurator fiscal shows that, tragically, babies can and do die in high-risk co-sleeping situations,” she added.
Some parents still opt to co-sleep with their babies, claiming it is widely practised in many cultures. They also claim it promotes bonding and allows them to get more rest.
NHS guidance states that smoking, drinking alcohol or extreme tiredness can all increase the risk of a baby dying while bed-sharing with a parent.
However, the health service recently stopped telling parents never to bed share with babies, but instead shifted to advising on how to do so more safely.
Some online forums promote the practice and play down the risks, claiming they can be managed by following other safety measures.
Co-sleeping is a ‘risk’
Dawn Fernand, 33, from Forfar, lost her daughter Fern in 2014 when she was seven weeks old after they fell asleep together during an early morning feed.
While tests later showed co-sleeping may not have been to blame, she said she believed updated guidance was not clear enough about the risks.
“I lost part of me, and you physically feel the pain of losing that part of you,” she told the BBC.
“I will grieve forever. I know how hard it is to raise babies. I know it’s exhausting and I know sometimes all you can do is co-sleep.
“But please be aware that there is a risk while doing it. There are ways to make it as safe as possible, but there is still a risk.”
There has been an alarming increase in infant deaths in Scotland over recent years.
Public Health Scotland figures released last year showed there were 2.8 deaths per 1,000 births among babies aged between four weeks and 12 months.
Measures of infant mortality generally decreased in Scotland until around 2014, and then remained broadly stable until 2020. Neonatal mortality – death in the first 28 days of life – then rose from 2.1 deaths per 1,000, to 2.7 in 2021 and 2.8 in 2022.
The figures breached a “control limit” set by experts, which is designed to highlight an unusual spike in cases.
Last year, Public Health Scotland said it did not believe issues in the NHS were to blame for the post-pandemic rise.
Public health experts called for the cause to be investigated, with the prosecution service now attributing the rise to unsafe sleeping practices.
The infant mortality rate in England and Wales also rose according to the latest figures, with 3.7 babies per 1,000 live births dying before their first birthday in 2021. Updated statistics are due to be released next month.
Lynsey Kidd, executive director at the Scottish Cot Death Trust, said she was concerned by recent trends.
“The evidence tells us that for the first six months the safest place for a baby to sleep is in a flat, clear, separate space such as a cot, a moses basket or a crib, in the parents’ room,” she said.
“We are concerned as a charity because we support many of these families, and whilst we talk about figures, we see the absolute devastation for families across Scotland who are living with the loss of their baby.”
