Red Nose Director of Fundraising, Rachel Bailey had a chance encounter with a family in need of help. This changed how she thought about Safe Sleep, and how Red Nose can help even more families to keep their baby safe.
How Can You Safely Sleep a Baby When There’s No Safe Space?
Following our Safe Sleep guidelines is one of the best ways to reduce the risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), but…only if there’s a safe place for a baby to sleep.
Believe it or not, SIDS still happens. Sadly, there are higher rates of SIDS in certain communities within Australia. And I want to share with you an experience that made me realise this problem is at our doorstep. It can affect people like just you and me.
I was at the Red Nose Walk to Remember event in Melbourne, where about 300 families came together to honour their babies and children who had passed away. At the end of the event, I was handing out leftover food to families.
I approached one family—a pregnant mum, her partner, and their toddler—and offered them some bread and sausages, which they were thankful for. But then the mum asked me a question that I’ll never forget:
“Can you please give me a cot? I have nowhere for this new baby to sleep, and we can’t afford to buy a cot. I need to keep this baby safe.”
Her question hit me hard. I promised myself that we would do more to help, but we can’t do it alone.
Will you make a generous donation today to help us provide free portacots for families who can’t afford one?
Donate now >
Since Red Nose started sharing Safe Sleep advice in the 1980s, we’ve helped reduce SIDS by 80% in Australia.
But the reality is, there are many families who simply don’t have a safe space for their baby to sleep. The cost of living, low income, or suddenly becoming a single income household can put any family in the same situation as this mother and her growing family.
Our mission is to prevent babies from dying suddenly and unexpectedly. But it means every baby in Australia should have a safe place to sleep. So, how can we help those families who don’t have space to safely sleep their baby?
Free Portacots for Vulnerable Families
We want to take our Safe Sleep mission further and help reduce SIDS by giving out free portacots to families with babies who are most at risk of SIDS.
We’re calling it Cots for Communities. And it all starts with your help to get the initial pilot phase off the ground.
Your special donation this Christmas will help fund this program, as part of a plan to reduce the rate of SIDS in Australia.
With your support, we’ll be able to provide free cots to the most vulnerable families in our communities. Many of them are facing challenges like homelessness or unstable housing, low and single incomes or even abusive relationships.
These families are already struggling to afford basic living essentials like shelter, clothing and food. Affording a cot on top of this is near impossible for them.
While there are a number of factors that can contribute to an increased risk for SIDS, one of the ways we can have the biggest impact is by ensuring every baby has a safe sleep space.
These cots are not in production yet. But if we get enough support from generous donors like you, we’ll be launching the program as soon as possible!
In the first phase of the program, we plan to manufacture 1,200 specially designed portacots. They will include special safe sleep messaging throughout them, as a helpful reminder of our six safe sleep recommendations.
They will be high quality and will meet all Australian Safety Standards. They will also be height adjustable, so they will be suitable from birth to when a child is around 18 months of age.
Take Action Now! You can be part of an Australian-first
This is an amazing opportunity for you to be part of our Australian-first Cots for Communities program.
Please make the biggest donation you can today. Your generous gift this Christmas will help provide a free portacot to a family in need.
And if you make your generous gift by midnight 31 December, it will be matched dollar for dollar!
Click here to donate >
If you or someone close to you has faced the loss of a baby or child, you know just how important it is to ensure we do whatever it takes to keep our babies safe.
Although we still don’t know why some babies are more vulnerable to SIDS than others, an unsafe sleep environment is one of the main factors known to increase the risk.
Sadly, some babies are at higher risk, simply because their parents can’t afford a cot to safely sleep their baby. With the increasing cost of living hitting young families hard, many are facing impossible choices, or worse—going without.
Having a baby can be an overwhelming and stressful time. There are many things to worry about. But where to safely sleep your baby shouldn’t be one of them.
That’s why it’s so important to donate today. If you take action now—by making the most generous donation you can—you’ll be helping so many families who can’t afford a cot for their baby.