Projects

We usually have mutliple projects running every year. Projects actively recruiting for participants are announced on our social media pages. 

Information about ongoing projects, and reports from complete projects can be found below.

The ESSaM Project (Evaluation of Sleep Safety Materials)

In 2018 Lullaby Trust, UNICEF UK BFI, and Basis (Baby Sleep Info Source) collaborated to design and co-brand new ‘Safer Sleep for Babies’ materials for use by UK health professionals and parents. These were endorsed by Public Health England and launched during Safer Sleep Week March 2019. 

We had intended to evaluate the impact of these materials by formally seeking feedback from professionals and parents in 2020, but a pandemic got in the way. Now, in 2022, the ESSaM project has been set up to find out how we are discussing sleep safety with UK families. This project will compare feedback from health professionals and parents who do and don’t use the ‘Safer Sleep for Babies’ materials, to help us understand whether the new materials are helpful and what changes might need to be made to them. 

Status: Project Complete

Contact: infancy.sleep.centre@durham.ac.uk 

County Durham SUDI Prevention Project

This project will co-produce, pilot, evaluate and disseminate learning from multi-agency working training and implementation programme for SUDI prevention in County Durham with local authority public health leads, vulnerable and low-income family facing services, local Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP), key NHS staff, and third sector partners.

Status: Project in progress

Contact:

Laura Murray: laura.m.murray@durham.ac.uk

Louise Cooper: l.s.cooper@durham.ac.uk

The Swaddle Sleep Study 

We are interested in the effects swaddling has upon the wellbeing of breastfed babies’ with special interest in their sleep and feeding behaviour. We are looking at exclusively breastfed participants who are up to 4 months old (and their mums!) who have never been swaddled. Swaddling is the wrapping of a baby so that arms are restrained.  

Status: Project complete

Contact: allison.dixley@durham.ac.uk

Postnatal Infant Care (PInC) Trial 

We are trying to find out how parents care for their babies in Newcastle Birthing Centre and how we can make it easier for parents to care for their babies after birth. 

Parents who sign up for the study and give birth in Newcastle Birthing Centre will be provided either a standalone cot or an in-bed cot. We would then like to record video and sound of parent to understand how parents look after their babies with these different cot types. 

This study is the PhD project of Alice-Amber Keegan at Durham University

Status: Recruitment complete - analysis in progress

Third-Stage of Labour (ThiStL) 

The Third Stage of Labour (ThiStL) Study is an exploratory study of care during the third stage of labour (when the placenta is expelled), which will involve interviews and surveys. The primary aim of this project is to understand why and how decisions are made around third stage of labour care for women experiencing low-risk pregnancies and labours in a midwife-led unit. This research will take place in the Newcastle Birthing Centre, and will account for multiple viewpoints and experiences, including those of pregnant women and postpartum mothers, and of midwives.

This study is the PhD project of Michele Freed at Durham University.

Status: Recruitment complete - analysis in progress