Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to review national guidance on the importance of sleep to babies and children to include (a) good sleep hygiene, (b) consistent bedtimes, (c) safe infant sleeping, (d) screen-based usage for parents; and provide initial training and CPD for Health Visitors and Early Years teachers.

We do not have plans to review the evidence on sleep interventions.

There is no national guidance on evidence-based recommended sleep duration for children because of the significant variation between children. The focus of the advice for parents is therefore on good bedtime routines and how to prevent and respond to common sleep problems.

However, this Government recognises the importance of healthy sleep patterns to aid children’s development. Health visitors, as part of the Healthy Child Programme, have contact with families during pregnancy and in the early days and weeks after birth. They provide advice on a range of issues to support the transition to parenthood. This will include a discussion of protective factors for babies’ safety such as safe sleeping, temperature control and infant feeding; their work has a strong focus on healthy sleep practices, bath, book, bed routines and activities. Health visitors signpost parents to trusted sources of further information such as those produced by the Lullaby Trust.

The NHS’ Start4Life Information Service for Parents provides information via email on keeping babies safe and provides guidance on preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), with links to further information online at:

https://www.nhs.uk/start4life

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published a guideline on postnatal care up to eight weeks after birth, which includes recommendations on co-sleeping. NICE is currently updating this, and currently expects to publish final guidance in January 2020. The guideline is available at the following link:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg37/chapter/1-recommendations#maintaining-infant-health –

Section 1.4.47 is for health professionals; a section for parents is at:

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg37/ifp/chapter/safety

The NHS Choices website provides guidance for parents on the amounts of sleep for children at different ages as well as advice and support for parents and children about sleep hygiene. It also provides factsheets on minimising the risk of SIDS. These are available at the following links:

https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Childrenssleep/Pages/childrenssleephome.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome/pages/introduction.aspx

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/pages/reducing-risk-cot-death.aspx

We are looking at the impact of screen time on a child’s cognitive development and we recognise that even parents who consider themselves digitally savvy can struggle with managing their children’s screen time as they grow older. A report led by the Chief Medical Officer has been commissioned, which will look at the impact of social media on children’s mental health. It will align with the Internet Safety Strategy published by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport in October last year, which outlined plans for a social media code of practice.

Public Health England has also developed specific advice resources on sleep issues for children and young people with the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the MindEd programme – this is a free educational resource on children and young people's mental health for all adults. It includes an interactive slide-pack on sleep difficulties (including for disabled children) available at the following link:

https://www.minded.org.uk/Component/Details/445706