The UK's leading baby-safety charity and an MP are calling for urgent regulation of the infant-sleep industry after a BBC investigation revealed unsafe sleep advice being given to parents. They urge the health secretary to protect babies from unregulated and misleading information.
Key points
Calls for urgent regulation of the infant-sleep industry
BBC investigation revealed unsafe sleep advice
Lullaby Trust and MP Tom Morrison are leading the initiative
Advice given contradicts NHS safer sleep guidelines
Health Secretary emphasizes need for evidence-based information
Mentioned in this story
Lullaby TrustTom MorrisonNHSDepartment for Health and Social Care
The UK's leading baby-safety charity and an MP have written to the health secretary calling for "urgent action" to regulate the infant-sleep industry, following a BBC investigation.
In the letter, the Lullaby Trust and Liberal Democrat Tom Morrison urge Wes Streeting to "ensure that no more babies' lives are put at risk due to unregulated and bogus sleep advice".
Last week, an undercover BBC report revealed how some self-described sleep experts have been giving new parents advice that goes against long-established safer sleep NHS guidelines.
Streeting said "dangerous misinformation dressed up as expert advice... must stop" and that parents should "only rely on trusted, evidence-based information" like the NHS Best Start in Life website.
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said in March that the law would be changed to limit who was allowed to call themselves a nurse.
This means people working in a hands-on capacity as night nannies would no longer be able to operate as "maternity nurses".
An inquest into the death of football manager Steve Bruce's four-month-old grandson found that Madison Bruce Smith died after being placed to sleep on his front by someone calling themselves a maternity nurse.
But many, including the Bruce Smith family, are calling for greater changes to be made by the DHSC and for urgent regulation for anyone working with infants.
Currently, there is no oversight or regulation of the industry - anyone can call themselves a baby-sleep expert or consultant regardless of experience or qualifications.
As a result, people can sell advice to parents which could be putting babies at increased risk of harm - including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) - without consequence.
In their first statement since the inquest into their son's death, Madison Bruce Smith's family told the BBC "no parent should ever have to question whether the person they have trusted to care for their baby is truly qualified.
"Clear standards and accountability are essential, because so many children's lives depend on it."
The family say they want "all paid care for babies and infants" to be "properly regulated with mandatory training and strict adherence to national safer-sleep guidelines".
Morrison, MP for Cheadle, echoed these calls for broader and stricter regulation in his letter to Streeting.
"I must ask what more can be done to legislate to prevent life-threatening advice being given to parents, when they are searching for help and support in the often vulnerable and difficult beginnings of parenthood," he writes.
Q&A
What prompted the calls for regulation in the baby-sleep industry?
The calls for regulation were prompted by a BBC investigation revealing unsafe sleep advice from self-described sleep experts.
Who is advocating for urgent action on baby sleep safety?
The Lullaby Trust and MP Tom Morrison are advocating for urgent action to regulate the infant-sleep industry.
What did the BBC investigation reveal about sleep advice for babies?
The investigation revealed that some sleep experts provide advice that contradicts established NHS safer sleep guidelines.
What is the stance of the health secretary on the misinformation in baby sleep advice?
Health Secretary Wes Streeting stated that dangerous misinformation must stop and emphasized the importance of relying on trusted, evidence-based information.
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The letter from Morrison and The Lullaby Trust says that, "following an alarming BBC investigation... it is clear that government regulation is urgently needed to stop individuals from giving parents sleep advice that is contrary to established NHS and real expert guidance".
Through secret filming, we exposed two prominent figures in the infant-sleep sector giving advice that could put babies at risk of serious harm and even death according to medical professionals.
Both self-described experts have published books, have celebrity endorsements and tens of thousands of followers on social media. Their publisher, Penguin, has not responded to multiple requests for comment from the BBC.
The findings left NHS clinicians feeling "sick" and "horrified".
Calls to regulate the sector are being backed by medical professionals, researchers and families whose babies died under the care of individuals who placed them in unsafe sleeping positions.
The Lullaby Trust says "anyone advising families on infant sleep, or placing babies to sleep, should be held to clear standards for the guidance they provide.
"At a minimum this should follow NHS advice in the absence of a medical qualification."
During our investigation, we heard from families who had poor experiences with people calling themselves baby-sleep experts or consultants and who had found there was no official place for them to register concerns.
First-time mum Emily Aston, who used a self-described sleep expert when her son was four months old, says she didn't know where to go when the advice she was given went against safer sleep guidelines.
"It just felt like she needed to be stopped and there's nothing out there to report her behaviour to," she says.
Emily says the "vulnerability" of new parents using these types of services "is the main reason why there needs to be regulation".
NHS midwife and certified lactation consultant Olivia Hinge, who reviewed our undercover consultations with self-described sleep experts, says she understands why people offering support with sleep can be so appealing to new mums.
"What they're doing is what you often don't get on the NHS... somebody sitting and listening and talking about the feeding alongside the sleeping," Hinge says - "it feels like somebody's really taking the time to know them and their baby".
But she cautions that the gap in support for new parents shouldn't be filled by unsafe advice or by people working outside of their qualifications and expertise.
"Children are the most vulnerable people in our society and we have a duty to protect them... We need some form of regulation and consistent public health messages have to be upheld," Hinge adds.
In the letter to Streeting, Morrison also highlights the case of Genevieve Meehan, a nine-month-old baby who suffocated at her nursery after being tightly swaddled, strapped to a beanbag and left unattended for 90 minutes.
Last month the Department for Education published updated safer-sleep guidance for early-years providers in partnership with The Lullaby Trust.
From September 2026, this will become statutory thanks to Wheeler and Meehan's campaigning.
But the Cheadle MP said it was "a time-critical mission to step in and regulate" the issue of safer-sleep advice.
"Although the government is cracking down on the improper use of the title nurse, it'll do absolutely nothing if someone can just change their title to 'sleep consultant' and continue giving bogus advice the next day," Morrison said.
"It terrifies me, as a father of a young one myself, that people are out there claiming to be experts when they are not."
Health Secretary Wes Streeting added: "It should go without saying, that when someone calls themself a nurse, they actually are one.
"We are taking decisive action to crack down on unqualified individuals masquerading as professionals, making it a criminal offence to misuse the title 'nurse'."
