'Lives still at risk' from unregulated baby sleep industry after BBC investigation

Lives are "still at risk" from the unregulated baby sleep industry, a parliament debate was told last night.

MPs are now urging the government to set out a timeline for legislation to make training and background checks compulsory, in the wake of a BBC investigation.

Labour MP Connor Rand described the industry as the "Wild West" and called for the introduction of "mandatory safeguarding and qualification standards" for everyone providing paid support to families.

The debate comes after secret filming by the BBC revealed how some self-described baby sleep experts have been giving parents dangerous advice that medical professionals say could increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids).

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Morrison said the government needs "a proper regulatory framework to make sure these charlatans that are putting out bogus sleep advice on social media... are held to account."

Health Minister Karin Smyth said "public safety is and has to remain the top priority".

Rand said the death of Madison Bruce Smith - a baby in his Altrincham and Sale West constituency - had shown the real-world consequences of allowing unqualified practitioners.

The MP, who led the debate, has set out a series of recommendations as the government considers regulating the sector.

These include the introduction of mandatory minimum safeguarding and paediatric qualification standards, backed by the National Nanny Association and The Lullaby Trust.

Rand also called for mandatory enhanced DBS background checks for all individuals working with children - including nannies, maternity nurses, infant sleep consultants and childcare professionals working in private homes.

He said the "infant sleep industry has boomed... as the support that used to be provided by the state has been stripped back."

Conservative MP Robbie Moore said he "absolutely backs all of the calls" Rand put forward in his speech, emphasising that he wants to see regulation for nannies, as well as maternity nurses and those working in infant sleep.

Allie Bell and Maria Culley from the National Nanny Association say they hope the debate is the "start of meaningful reform" and the start of regulation for maternity nurses, nannies and the wider baby sleep industry.

"Families deserve clarity about the qualifications, training and safeguarding standards of those caring for their children, particularly during the earliest and most vulnerable stages of a child's life," Bell and Culley told the BBC.

Last month the UK's leading baby-safety charity The Lullaby Trust and Morrison wrote to Streeting calling for "urgent action" to "ensure that no more babies' lives are put at risk due to unregulated and bogus sleep advice".

Currently anyone can call themselves a maternity nurse, sleep expert or consultant, without any training, oversight or accountability.

DUP MP Jim Shannon highlighted this lack of oversight a sector that predominantly caters for "sleep-deprived and vulnerable parents".

Speaking during the debate, Shannon said: "Anyone can buy a website domain, call themselves an infant sleep expert or a maternity nurse and charge vulnerable sleep-deprived parents hundreds of pounds for unregulated, untested and potentially unsafe advice."

Shannon added that parents "need to have security in that advice that they are taking comes from a solid foundation and that qualifications, or lack of qualifications are clear".

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".

Rand called for a clear timeline on when legislation will be introduced, and said the new regulations should apply to those calling themselves sleep consultants or practitioners.

Smyth reiterated the plans to protect the title of nurse on Monday night, adding that the government will "shortly" be publishing "a call for evidence on the protection of the title nurse".

Following our investigation, the BBC spoke to dozens more parents, who say the government's commitment to increased regulation is "absolutely essential" for the safety of babies and maternal mental health.

Mother-of-two Aimee Beesley welcomes the changes proposed and says currently "babies lives are at risk".

When she was sleep-deprived, and struggling with postnatal depression with her first child, she paid hundreds of pounds for a sleep consultant and self-described maternity nurse, who had thousands of followers online. She had wrongly assumed there was a regulatory body already in place.

She says the advice she received included sleeping her babies in their own room at eight weeks old and placing muslin towels around their heads in the cot.

She believes that self-described maternity nurses "capitalise on women's vulnerability" and "say whatever they want" online.

Now supporting families herself after undertaking a qualification in infant sleep, Aimee believes "any coach worth their salt would be prepared to re-train under the right regulatory body".

Responding on behalf of the government, Smyth said the early stages of parenting is "a really worrying and stressful time... and rogue advice from so-called experts can have a damaging and devastating effect on those who seek reputable advice and guidance."

She outlined existing provision for new parents, including the Healthy Babies programme which "supports new parents and families by offering integrated preventative and universal support, including perinatal mental health, parent-infant relationships and infant feeding in the 1,001 days from pregnancy to age two."

Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Contact the team at: [email protected]

Details of organisations offering information and support on child bereavement are available at BBC Action Line