🛡️ Child safety · 0 – 6 years
🧠 Essential reflexes: sleep, shaking & outdoors
Reduce sleep-related risks with a firm, flat, clear infant sleep space, back sleeping and avoidance of overheating.
Real talk
- Stick your local emergency numbers (emergency services, fire department, poison control) somewhere obvious on the fridge, or save them on speed dial on your phone.
The Reflexes
1. Every sleep
Place baby on their back on a firm, flat, approved infant sleep surface, with no pillows, wedges, bumpers, loose soft items or weighted sleep products. Share a room, not a sleep surface, at least for the first six months.
2. Dress for comfort
Keep head and face uncovered. Use well-fitting sleepwear; a non-weighted well-fitting sleep sack is optional. Follow its manufacturer’s temperature guidance rather than treating a TOG table as medical law. Check the chest/back for overheating; no single 18–19°C range guarantees safety.
3. Stay safe
Never sleep with baby on a sofa or armchair or while holding them. Never shake baby. If overwhelmed, place them safely in their crib/crib and ask for support. Emergency: 911.
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When in doubt, contact your doctor or midwife. For a life-threatening emergency, call 911.
