A children's hospital has given advice to parents on how to keep their babies warm this winter, as the energy crisis may leave people finding it trickier to heat their home towards the end of the year.

Professor Ian Sinha, a consultant respiratory paediatrician at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, helps at a clinic supporting premature babies through their first few months and setting them up for the rest of their lives.

As part of this he has described how clinic staff have recently started giving advice to parents to counter some potentially bad tips.

He said: “We’ve had to say ‘look, don’t wrap your baby up in lots of layers’ because we know that that is a risk for cot death, and pre-term infants are already at higher risk.

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“We’ve had to say ‘try not to sleep in bed with your baby’.

“People are saying ‘well let’s all cuddle together that will keep us warm’ – again, one of the key risk factors for cot deaths.

“So the way that we’re thinking about this winter is very much in terms of the most grave consequences, and we worry that this will either catch up with infants now or in the future.”

Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust said it is important parents are aware that advice they hear about keeping warm “may in fact be harmful for babies”.

How to keep babies warm this winter

Advice offered by the Alder Hey Children's NHS Foundation Trust, the NHS and the Lullaby Trust includes:

  • Try to exclude draughts from the room the baby is in
  • Keep the baby away from mould and damp
  • Wrap babies up, but make sure the layers are not too heavy so that they cannot breathe due to the weight on their chest
  • Have an ideal sleeping temperature of between 16-20C
  • Have the baby sleep in a well-fitting baby sleeping bag or well-fitting sheets and blankets that are tucked in
  • Don't use duvets, pillows or quilts shouldn't be used in the first year

Additionally, the Trust said if parents choose to share a bed with their baby, they can do this more safely by making sure the baby lies face up on a firm, flat mattress, not having pillows or duvets near the baby and not having any other children or pets in the bed.

It advises that parents seek help from their council, children’s centres and Citizen’s Advice if their home is cold.