More than 1,800 staff working across the Black Country have taken up training to promote safer sleeping for babies.

The free training, in partnership with The Lullaby Trust, is aimed at all who interact with children and families, both personally and professionally. It has been funded by the Black Country Child Death Review Strategic Partnership and is supported by the Black Country Local Maternity and Neonatal System.

It is suitable for anyone who works in health, education – including early years and nursery providers – social care, voluntary and community organisations, emergency services, housing officers and anyone who engages with families prior to or following the birth of a child.

Through the BCLMNS, Black Country Midwives, Maternity Support Workers and Neonatal Nurses are working to reduce the number of baby deaths in the region where unsafe sleeping habits have been identified.

Feeback from those who have taken part in the training, which is only available up to 9 July, has been positive, as well as some suggestions on how to build on the information given.

Comments have included:

• “I learnt about swaddling as I found this to be a grey area and I had always been against it. It’s good to be updated – especially working with vulnerable patients being high risk.”
• “I have found a lot of facts and figures useful and feel more confident in delivering this information for families that come into the setting that are expecting and have babies.”

There were also calls for the training to be made available to a wider audience.

Sally Roberts, LMNS Senior Responsible Officer and Chief Nursing Officer, said: “It is so encouraging to see how many colleagues across the Black Country have taken up this important training as we collectively work to promote awareness of safer sleep across all of our communities.

“We’ve had those who work with children and young people, those in Education and Maternity Services, Health Visitors, School Nurses, Primary Care colleagues and Paediatrics staff take part so far.

“The free offer is open until 9 July and we’d like to encourage more professionals who work in mental health, emergency services, maintenance services and housing in particular to sign up too. We can all play a part in trying to reduce the risk of future deaths or harm to children in the Black Country.”

To sign up, please register your interest at Access to Safer Sleep Training.

If you have any questions, please contact the Black Country Child Death Overview Panel: bcicb.blackcountrycdop@nhs.net. The training offer closes on Tuesday 9 July at 11.59pm.