Babies and Very Young Children

Safeguarding babies and very young children is a high priority for OSCP

ICON is being rolled out to professionals through Devon and Cornwall. ICON is all about helping people who care for babies to cope with crying, for more information please see the ICON website here Home - ICON Cope

The child's voice and domestic abuse multi-agency forum is currently working on developing various ways of ensuring that the voice of babies and very young children is heard in situations where domestic abuse is present. The For Baby’s Sake Trust have shared findings highlighting that babies and children are also victims of domestic abuse, which can have lifelong impacts on physical, emotional and mental health.  See our webpage here for more information about domestic abuse.

Related Guidance & Further Reading

The Lullaby Trust provide useful safer sleeping advice to help parents and carers reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome.  Of particular interest may be the advice for care givers of babies sleeping away from home or in emergency situations.

The Myth of Invisible Men - Safeguarding children under 1 from non-accidental injury caused by male carers September 2021  - This is the third national review commissioned by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. It focusses on the circumstances of babies under 1 year old who have been harmed or killed by their fathers or other males in a caring role.  We also have the Seven Minute briefing that we produced on this topic.

Families who have experienced the sudden and unexpected death of a baby or young child are often very anxious when they have another baby. The Lullaby Trust’s Care of Next Infant (CONI) support is available locally and provides emotional and practical support to bereaved families during pregnancy and throughout the early months of their new baby’s life, allowing them to enjoy this special time.  Please contact the Health Visiting Team for more information.

The National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) is an NHS funded project, delivered by the University of Bristol, that gathers information on all children who die across England. Their aim is to learn lessons that could lead to changes to improve and save children’s lives in the future.  They provide a summary of safety notices for professionals working with families to share including:

• Babies – keep it simple
• Nappy sacks
• Blind cords