Bounty

Not enough is being done to cut the "unacceptably high" number of cot deaths suffered by teenage mothers, a charity has said.

A cot death is three times more likely to occur for a child whose mother is aged under 20 than those with older mothers, figures published last week by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show.

In 2008, the rate of unexplained infant deaths was 1.07 per 1,000 births for mothers under 20, compared with 0.37 for mothers over 20 in England and Wales, the ONS figures revealed.

Joyce Epstein, director of the Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), said: "The figures show that deaths in the UK have remained static and the rate for young mothers is still unacceptably high.

"FSID has been working hard to ensure that all pregnant teenagers and young parents are aware of the safe sleep advice, which is why we have developed a new social networking site exclusively for them, www.bubbalicious.org.uk, which offers peer support and expert help."

The FSID offers advice to parents to prevent cot deaths, which includes not smoking when in the same room as a baby, putting the baby to sleep on its back, ensuring it does not get too warm and not sleeping in the same bed as the baby.

Copyright Press Association 2010