The parent of a six-month-old who went to sleep and never woke up have spoken out to warn others.
There were no signs that baby Ralph Wakefield wouldn't wake up from his nap in September 2015.
His mum Jennifer never smoked, she didn't drink during pregnancy and he wasn't born early - these are some of risk factors when it comes to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Jennifer, 33, a council worker of Cleethorpes, received a call at work from her childminder. It was the call no parent should ever have to take, reports Grimsby Live.
Ralph had been put down for his nap, but tragically, he didn't wake up.
The loss of Ralph was described as "unavoidable" by professionals who calculate more than 200 babies die suddenly and unexpectedly every year.
Jennifer was at work in Scunthorpe when Ralph’s childminder called to say he’d died in his sleep after what they thought was a “really long nap”.
She said: “He was put down for a nap at his childminder’s and when they went to check on him, he wasn’t waking up.”
The NHS describes SIDS as a “sudden, unexpected and unexplained death of an apparently healthy baby”, which usually occurs when a baby is asleep, but can occasionally happen while they’re awake.
SIDS is considered to be rare with a low chance of babies dying from it, however the risk increases in mums who smoke while pregnant or after a baby is born, and babies should always be placed on their back when they sleep.
Jennifer, who recently moved from Hull to Cleethorpes, is today sharing a crucial message to all parents across northern Lincolnshire.
The mum-of-three said: “He did not fit the risk factor for SIDS. I have never smoked, never drank while pregnant, didn’t co-sleep and he wasn’t born premature.
“The only two significant things which could have happened was simply because he was a boy – it’s more frequent in boys – and he was around the six months mark. There’s a slight spike in the risk of SIDS for babies who are around six-months-old.”
Now she's moved to Cleethorpes, Jennifer is working with Grimsby and Cleethorpes SANDS, a stillborn and neonatal death charity, to raise awareness of SIDS.
She spent almost three years working with midwives at Hull Royal Infirmary to further their education on SIDS by sharing her real-life story, and has been working with various organisations including The Lullaby Trust, who provide expert advice on safer sleep for babies and offer emotional support for bereaved families.
It’s Jennifer and The Lullaby Trust’s joint aim to half the number of babies who die of SIDS on a national level by 2020.
She added: “I’ve been into Hull hospital to speak with their midwives and share my story. I believe this benefited them because it gave them a real-life example of how SIDS can affect a person.
“I am aiming to do the same here, going into Grimsby’s Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital to speak with their midwives and work with SANDS. I’ll be starting this up after all the kids go back to school in September.
“The biggest and most important impact I can make is to continue talking about Ralph. It’s by doing this, raising awareness of SIDS and working with midwives and organisations, that more babies' lives can be saved.”
