Safe Sleep Guidance: What is it and why it’s important

Sleep is one of the most important things we get right for your child, every day they’re with us. It’s also one of the areas where small details make the biggest difference to safety.

New national guidance on safer sleep has recently been published, drawing together the latest evidence from health and early years experts. We already follow this closely across every Kids Planet setting – but moments like this are worth using to explain exactly what the guidance says, why it matters, and how we put it into practice.

This isn’t about alarming you. It’s about making sure you have the same clear, evidence-based information we use every day, for naps at nursery and sleep at home.

Where the guidance comes from

In the UK, safer sleep advice is developed by organisations working in a partnership such as the Lullaby Trust, the NHS, and the Department for Education (DfE).

The advice was created with the aim of reducing the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), and since 1991 the Lullaby Trust estimates the advice has saved the lives of over 31,000 babies.

The core safe sleep practices

There are a few different core principles of the safer sleep advice. As your baby gets older the advice can change slightly, so make sure you check as they age.

The Lullaby Trust came up with a simple to remember acronym for babies 6 months and under, “The ABCs of safer sleep”, so new parents can remember the basics after little to no sleep themselves!

Always sleep your baby on their back in a clear cot or sleeping space.

The single safest thing you can do to create a safe sleeping environment for your little one is to always place them in their own clear, flat, firm separate sleep space, on their back.

Safest sleeping position

Sleeping on the back – sometimes called the supine position – is the safest for every sleep, not just at night. It’s not a UK-specific recommendation either; evidence from around the world backs it up.

Consistency matters as much as the position itself: a baby who’s usually placed on their back but occasionally put down on their front or side is at higher risk than one who’s always in one position or the other.

It’s part of why keeping sleep routines aligned between home and nursery matters so much. If your baby’s doctor has advised a different position for medical reasons, always follow their guidance instead.

Room temperature

Babies sleep best somewhere between 16°C and 20°C – not too warm, and not too cold.

A room thermometer takes the guesswork out of it, especially on nights where you’re unsure whether to add or remove a layer.

The risk of SIDS rises when a baby gets too hot, so it’s worth checking rather than assuming.

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding, in any amount, has been shown to reduce the risk of SIDS. But we know it isn’t possible or right for every family, and that’s completely okay. If you formula feed and follow the rest of this advice, you’re already giving your baby a safe start to sleep.

No two children sleep in quite the same way, and that’s exactly why our teams work with every family to understand your child’s individual routine – building the same consistency between nursery and home that makes safer sleep so effective in practice.

If you have any questions about your child’s sleep routine at nursery, start with your room team. They know your child, and they’re always happy to talk it through.

For more detail than we’ve covered here, both the Lullaby Trust and the NHS publish clear, regularly updated guidance on safer sleep – well worth reading in full if you’d like to go deeper.

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