Sudden infant death syndrome rates need to drop
On the 1st of October the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released figures showing the initial rates of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and sudden and unexpected deaths for England and Wales in 2024 as well as the revised rate for 2023.
Newly released 2024 figures show 570 babies died suddenly and unexpectedly in England and Wales in 2024, although this is likely to be amended next year when all registrations are received.
Within that, 183 deaths remain unexplained, where no cause can be found. These deaths will likely be attributed to SIDS or given the term ‘unascertained’. This is a rate of 0.31 per 1,000 live births across England and Wales.
New data also released has revised the 2023 rate for unexplained infant deaths in England and Wales to 0.33 deaths per 1,000 live births. Initially it was reported at a rate of 0.28.
The total number of sudden and unexpected deaths rose from 538 to 644, with the inclusion of late registrations. This is where the 12 babies a week number comes from in our Campaign for Safer Starts.
Why are there revisions?
Unfortunately, we know that when a baby dies suddenly and unexpectedly there are often delays with investigations to try and establish a cause of death, resulting in subsequent late registration.
It can take over 18 months for all investigations to take place after a death, and we are now seeing further delays to these registrations due to shortages of paediatric pathologists, amongst other factors, affecting the investigation process. This can have a huge impact on families waiting for answers.
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It’s troubling to see such a large number of delayed registrations. In previous years we might have seen small changes, but this update saw a significant change to the figures provisionally given for 2023. What this means for families is that they are struggling with increasing delays in finding out why their baby died, which we know is incredibly distressing.
The Lullaby Trust's CEO, Jenny Ward
12 babies a week is far too many
When we look at all sudden and unexpected deaths, that is currently 11 every week for 2024, and 12 for 2023, we know that is far too many.
Since the introduction of the Back to Sleep campaign in 1991 when we saw a significant decrease in the numbers of SIDS deaths, numbers have generally continued to decrease. However, we are now no longer seeing a decline in the rate of unexplained deaths.
The impact of this on families is devastating, that is why we have recently launched our Campaign for Safer Starts. We believe every family deserves the support they need to keep their baby as safe as possible. That’s why we are asking government to commit to three key actions:
- A national plan for increasing health visitor numbers to improve support for new parents
- Regulation and a minimum qualification standard for anyone providing professional sleep support and advice
- A new government-backed safer sleep campaign to support everyone looking after young babies to feel confident about safer sleep
What else are we working on
We will keep working to understand what is happening behind these numbers and whether there are any trends or patterns that we might be starting to see. We work closely with the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) whose data goes into more detail and enables us to see more than the ONS headline statistics.
Last year we spoke about the numbers of babies and small children who are living in temporary accommodation. This was found to be a contributing factor in the deaths of 58 babies under the age of one between 2019-2024, according to the Shared Health Foundation and the National Child Mortality Database.
Thankfully we have seen this acknowledged and recognised, with calls for a safer sleep space to be provided to any infant entering emergency accommodation.
There have also been huge reductions in health visitor numbers, which is being felt across the country; something we are pleased to see acknowledged by the government at the recent Labour party conference. New parents and families need support, and health visitors are a vital part of that.
This year we have worked with the BBC on their investigation into ‘sleep consultants’ exposing unsafe sleep practices. We are also continuing our work with the Campaign for Gigi to ensure all nurseries follow safer sleep guidance. Most of our aims have already been achieved and we continue to push for all to be implemented.
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