By Sharon Walsh-Barlltrop - Creator of Back To Sleep

I am a mother of three young children and a paediatric nurse. I know the anxiety the topic of cot death causes and I wanted something simple which would eliminate some of these anxieties.

The Back to Sleep campaign was around prior to me having my first child. The results of positioning an infant on it's back showed an immediate reduction in cot death numbers. This was why I feel it is so important to maintain this sleeping position in all children.

Many night's were spent worrying that my baby would roll onto his abdomen and not be able get back onto his back. I would go into his room and if he was lying on his abdomen I was unable to see if he was breathing. I would lift him to put him onto his back this invariably led to waking him and as he was an infant who was difficult to settle and this led to hours of pacing the floor with him. Less sleep meant periods of exhaustion and reduced ability to cope during the day. I know is felt by the majority of mothers/carers at some time or other.

During my second pregnancy an addition to the campaign was launched.

Back to sleep and feet to foot.

We were recommended to put the infant on their back at the foot of the cot. This was to ensure that they could not wriggle under the sheets and potentially overheat or smother themselves. Unfortunately my children always seems to wriggle up the cot and invariably ended up with no covers and woke up because the were cold. This advice was great but for me there was still the problem of the infant rolling onto their abdomen and not being able to independently roll back. Whilst this is indeed a developmental problem and with time most infants learn to roll back, there is a time where they are unable to do so. It was during this time I felt something was needed to keep my infant safe, reduce my anxieties and also to maintain the recommended sleeping position.