#babybed, #babyinspiratie, #baby sleep, #slaapkind’s sleep: hashtags that deliver thousands of baby photos on Instagram. Floortje Kanits, researcher Sleep safety for babies and cot death prevention at Wageningen University & Research, analyzed five hundred ‘Insta photos’ with such hashtags. Her findings: Only six of the analyzed photos met the advice for safe sleeping, less than 2 percent.
The number of babies that die of ‘cot death’ – unexpected death during sleep without a clear cause – has been in recent years greatly increased. In the past, around two hundred children in the past died in this way, but after intensive campaigns, that number fell sharply from the end of the 1980s, until it stabilized around 25 babies a year in 2006. In 2022 there were suddenly much more with 36, and the rise continued the following years: 41 in 2023 and 37 in 2024.
The cause of cot death is in principle unknown, and research is not mandatory: parents must give permission for that. That only happens in one in three cases. That makes it difficult to identify reasons for the increase, says Mieke Cotterink, child safety expert with a focus on safe sleep at SafetyNL, a knowledge center for injury prevention. Together with other organizations such as BOINK (Association of Parents in Childcare), SafetyNL published the new figures this week, Based on CBS data.
Baby nests
“Although we do not immediately know what is behind the rise, we have suspected developments that we see ourselves,” says Cotterink. One of those developments is the number of images on social media such as Instagram and Tiktok with unsafe sleeping situations. Often very cute pictures, says Cotterink, from a baby on the belly or a baby in a ‘baby nest’ (a padded bed with thick edges) surrounded by hugs and pillows, sometimes with a warm hat on. “But rule one for very young babies is: sleeping on the back. Arranging number two is a Léég bed. And also warmth – for example a too hot hat – is a risk factor for cot death: young babies cannot yet regulate their temperature.”
Researcher Kanits analyzed the Instagram pictures on the four sleeping advice for babies. In addition to sleeping on the back and an empty bed, that is a bed (not with the parents in bed or on the couch for example) and sleeping in a sleeping bag. On one of the three photos the baby lay on the belly, on two of the three not in its own bed, crib or crib, on one of the six not in an empty bed and only 6 percent of the photos lay the baby in a sleeping bag.
Back position is important, explains Kanits, because babies who just start turning can turn to their belly, but often not back. An empty bed – and especially: without lined materials – prevents a baby from lying down somewhere or with the face against something. A small cuddle cloth is okay, says Kanits, but otherwise the bed is better to stay as sober as possible.
If the baby is in a sleeping bag, no extra bedding is needed such as a loose blanket and it is much harder to turn. “This way you postpone the turning until they are a little further developed, and they can turn back more easily.” The youngest, smallest babies are sometimes a bit tricky to “wriggle in a sleeping bag.” “Then it can be done under a sheet with a blanket, but the child must be tightly tucked in tightly.”
Sleep together
Sleeping together is also a well -known risk factor for cot death, because of pillows and comforters in the parental bed, but also because of the parent itself: the baby can roll against that, or vice versa. The cases of cot death that are being investigated, shows that there are relatively more children who slept in bed with parents.
The images that Kanits looked at were partly from young parents themselves and partly from influencers (more specifically: ‘Momfluencers’), but also from larger companies such as baby brand Prénatal. “Accounts with many followers influence what is seen as ‘normal’. It is important that it is precisely those accounts that show a good example by following the advice for safe sleeping and explicitly pointing out them.”
In other research, Kanits looked at where young parents get their information about safe sleep. They increasingly use social media, and therefore relatively less of traditional channels such as the consultation office, the GGD and maternity care. “It would be good if those traditional channels become more active on social media, for countering the disinformation that goes around there.”
But those channels are under pressure, says Cotterink of SafetyNL. “There are large staff shortages in childcare and in maternity care. Consults are shorter, the number of hours before the maternity period is decreasing, there is less time and space for good information about safe sleep, and the course of staff is great.”
At childcare, the risk of cot death is two and a half times as great as at home. Probably because the transition from home to the shelter is very drastic for a young baby, says Cotterink. “For the baby it is safer to postpone that moment a little longer, but we often do not have that possibility in the Netherlands, because the delivery leave is too short for that.” The most important thing, says Cotterink, is that parents and care are discussing sleep safety with each other. “As a parent, keep the daycare alert, and as a daycare the parent.”
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