G137(P) Baby boxes for safe sleeping – but would parents use them?

Abstract

Background The Baby Box (BB) comes with a firm waterproof mattress that provides a safe place for babies to sleep; and helps to prevent co-sleeping, which has been identified as a risk factor for SIDS [1]. An online educational package on safe sleeping (SS) is going to be an integral part of the intervention. Working in an area of deprivation and diversity, understanding our parents is vital in order to promote SS and the BB effectively. Aims To assess; 1) Whether parents received SS advice antenatally 2) Parental knowledge on SS practices 3) Parental views on the BB Methods We used a questionnaire to explore parental knowledge and views on using the BB. Google translate was used to communicate with non-English speaking parents. SS advice was offered to all parents. Results 30 parents, of 15 different ethnicities were assessed. Only 10 out of 30 women received SS advice during pregnancy, which is reflected in the parental SS assessment results in Table below. 10% of parents had not made baby sleeping arrangements. 27% of parents had heard of the BB and 47% of parents would use the BB after being shown it. Barriers to using the BB included concerns about hygiene, about other children being able to climb into the BB and concerns about design. Reasons for using the BB included the portability, proximity to parents and safety. Conclusions Providing SS advice needs to improve and be available in several languages with the use of pictures to meet the needs of a diverse yet captive population; a need which is anticipated to be met by the launch of the online education package. The BB is now going to be promoted to parents at booking when sleep arrangements have not been made. Promoting the safety and portability aspects of the BB is key to increasing its use.