The sleep space

A clear, flat, firm, separate surface, the right temperature, and room sharing.

The short version

Keep your baby in your room for sleep, day and night, for the first six months, in their own cot, crib or Moses basket.
Your baby needs remarkably little: a firm, flat, waterproof mattress and lightweight bedding. A Moses basket, crib, cot or travel cot all work.
Take pillows, duvets, quilts, cot bumpers, soft toys, weighted bedding, positioners, pods, nests, rolled towels and sheepskins out of the sleep space.
Keep the room at 16 to 20 degrees. To check if your baby is too hot, feel their chest or the back of their neck.
Keep your baby smoke free day and night: if anyone in the household smokes, the risk of SIDS is much higher.
Check their chest or the back of the neck, not hands and feet, which feel cold even on a warm baby.
If you have no safe place for your baby to sleep at all, tell your midwife or health visitor. They can help.

The rest of this page explains where this comes from. You do not have to read it tonight.

About 3 minutes to read

A clear, flat, firm, separate sleep space

Your baby needs remarkably little: a firm, flat, waterproof mattress and lightweight bedding. A Moses basket, crib, cot or travel cot all work, as long as the mattress is firm and flat.

Take these out of the sleep space:

Pillows, duvets and quilts. The Lullaby Trust says these "have been shown to increase the risk of SIDS by three times."
Cot bumpers.
Soft toys and comforters.
Weighted or bulky bedding.
Sleep positioners, wedges and straps.
Pods, nests and rolled towels.
Sheepskins.

If money is tight

A second-hand mattress is acceptable to the Lullaby Trust if it has a 100% waterproof cover, no tears or water damage, no sagging and a fire-resistant label. If you have no safe place for your baby to sleep at all, tell your midwife or health visitor: UNICEF UK specifically asks health professionals to help with a lack of a cot, bed or space for sleeping, so it is a normal thing to raise.

Room temperature

The Lullaby Trust and the NHS agree on 16 to 20 degrees Celsius, because overheating raises the risk of SIDS. To check whether your baby is too hot, feel their chest or the back of their neck. Hands and feet are a poor guide and are often cool even when a baby is warm enough. If they feel hot or sweaty, take a layer off.

No hats indoors.
No hot water bottles or electric blankets.
No cot next to a radiator or in direct sunlight.

If you cannot hold the room in that range, and plenty of homes cannot, work with layers and keep checking their chest. The roughly 18 degrees you may see for older children's bedrooms is separate advice for a different age group.

The Lullaby Trust is direct: "Babies should always be in the same room as you for the first six months for sleep, day and night." The risk of SIDS is lower when your baby sleeps in the same room as you than when they sleep alone, and you can leave the room briefly. Same room, separate sleep surface: your baby in their own cot, crib or Moses basket, next to your bed. It costs nothing and works the same whether you have several rooms or one.

Smoking and vaping

The Lullaby Trust says that if anyone in the household smokes, during pregnancy or after the birth, "the risk of SIDS is much higher." Keeping your baby smoke free day and night is one of the four headline messages.

On vaping they are honest that the evidence is not there yet: "There is no research available on vaping and SIDS yet, though we are funding research to discover more." Their advice is to keep your baby away from vapes and their vapour, and because "there is currently no research around bedsharing and vaping", not to share a bed with your baby if you vape. If you want to stop smoking, your midwife, health visitor or GP can refer you to a free NHS service. Asking will not get you a lecture.

Where this comes from

The Lullaby Trust, Safer sleep for babies: a guide for parents and carers (last reviewed November 2024), for the four headline messages and the 81% fall in SIDS since 1991.
The Lullaby Trust, safer sleep overview, for following the advice until 12 months, or 12 months from the due date for premature babies.
The Lullaby Trust, sleeping position, for back sleeping and rolling.
The Lullaby Trust, response on chest sleeping, for the supervised chest-sleeping distinction.
NHS, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), for back sleeping and the feet-to-foot position.
The Lullaby Trust, keeping a clear cot and mattresses and bedding, for what to take out, the three times risk from quilts, pillows and duvets, and second-hand mattresses.
The Lullaby Trust, your baby's airway and car seats, for inclined positions and the two hour car seat limit.
The Lullaby Trust, room temperature, for 16 to 20 degrees and checking the chest or back of the neck.
The Lullaby Trust, room sharing, for the first six months.
The Lullaby Trust, smoking, for smoking and the absence of vaping research.
The Lullaby Trust, co-sleeping and alcohol, for when bed-sharing is dangerous, the safer bed-sharing steps and planning ahead.
UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative, Co-sleeping and SIDS: A Guide for Health Professionals (last updated October 2019, using 2017 data), for the absolute risk figures, the sofa quotation and the harm-reduction argument.
Blair et al., PLOS ONE, 2014, for the peer-reviewed odds ratios.
The Lullaby Trust, survey of over 3,400 new parents, for the proportion who have fallen asleep on a sofa or armchair, and for the "up to 50 times" figure we have chosen not to present as a research finding.
The Lullaby Trust, breastfeeding, dummies and swaddling, for the protective factors and the bottle feeding reassurance quoted in full.
BASIS (Baby Sleep Information Source), sleep aids, for the McGarvey 2003 dummy finding and the Blair 2009 swaddling finding.
The Lullaby Trust, premature babies, for avoiding co-sleeping until one year from the due date.
The Lullaby Trust, other carers and babysitters, for "routine is key".
The Lullaby Trust, what is SIDS, for 87% of deaths occurring at six months or under.
UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative parent leaflet (2025 edition), for night feeding being normal and essential, responsive feeding, the TICKS sling checklist and "never shake a baby".

Last checked 1 August 2026. This page is general information, not medical advice. If you are worried about your child, speak to your health visitor or GP.