Feature SLEEP TIME Image source: pexels.com
The sleep time category continues to grow with innovation and safety at the core of products that are available which assist infants and parents secure a good nights sleep.
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ust like adults, babies’ and children’s sleep patterns vary. Newborns can sleep for up to 18 hours in a 24 hour cycle, three to six month olds on average eight hours or longer at night and six to 12 month olds up to 12 hours at night (of course during the night sleep can be disturbed as infants may wake for nighttime feeds or due to disturbance in sleep times patterns). However, that’s a lot of time spent in a crib, cot or toddler bed. As such, more so perhaps with newborns, parents can have a huge level of anxiety. From birth through research, parents will look for products that might have endorsement by way of, for example, The Lullaby Trust, award accolades on packaging, fabrics that have breathability or are Oeko-Tex certified. With this being such an emotive category are parents looking for products that have a level of endorsement to ease any anxiety? “Absolutely. Customers are looking for safety primarily, closely followed by design, quality, function and price.” Comments CuddleCo’s Head of Product Rob Chambers, adding “At CuddleCo we go above and beyond the usual UK testing standards. All our sleep products are tested by FIRA, the Furniture Industry Research Association. This means that the stability, rigidity and finish of all of our furniture is checked thoroughly. In addition, drawer runners are strength 32
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and weight tested to ensure that they can meet the most demanding of use.” Green Sheep’s Product Director Paul Maurice feels it ‘depends on the product’, stating “Anything technical or that has a wildly different approach to others on the market in that segment, needs to come with reassurance to the consumer. This can be through professional endorsements, trusted brand endorsement or other parent endorsements (reviews etc).” While parents research sleep products there is no denying that social media plays a huge role within this category, with parents researching products online or following advice given by ‘mummy bloggers’, ‘influencers’ or celebrities’. However, this can also not be ‘so picture perfect’ as discovered this month by The Lullaby Trust, who from the results of their recent survey, is warning families that some popular baby sleeping products promoted on social media do not conform to safer sleep advice and could potentially put babies at risk. The survey of over 4,600 new and expectant parents found 67% of parents follow celebrities and influencers who have babies. Just over half of those who follow influencers stated they do so for parenting tips and/or baby product recommendations. As content shared online can greatly influence new
parents, The Lullaby Trust’s Safer Sleep Week campaign this year urges more examples of safer sleep images to be shared across social media platforms. Worryingly, over 1 in 3 parents (37%) have bought a baby sleep product which doesn’t fit with safer sleep advice, including cot bumpers and baby pillows after seeing them on their Instagram and Facebook feeds. Jenny Ward, Chief Executive of The Lullaby Trust said: ‘“As a SIDS charity, we have watched with concern as many social media images of babies in worrying sleep environments have become increasingly popular. Pictures of cots filled with cot bumpers, fluffy blankets and cuddly toys might be nice to look at, but in reality aren’t recommended for babies to sleep in. It is vitally important that parents are aware of advice on how to sleep their baby safely. However, images of babies sleeping this way could influence parents to do the same and not follow safer sleep advice.” One product category that has seen a continual growth and offers a safe sleep environment, is that of bedside cribs. Paul gave Nursery Today his view stating: “It is such a mature market now. It’s great to see a segment we brought to the mass market being full of new entrants and different offerings, it really cements what we hoped these products would bring benefits wise
to parents, has actually been delivered. We’re of course extremely proud of what SnuzPod has achieved - and with it now being the fourth generation we’ve learnt so much at each iteration, I really believe that is why it’s still one of the UK’s number choice by parents.” Breathability is also often a word that is referred to when the consumer looks at sleeptime products, for example, mattresses and bedding. Are we currently seeing a higher level of awareness by new mums of products that fall into this arena? “Natural fabrics are best for sleep products as they are more breathable, helping prevent overheating and allowing moisture to escape.” Said Ergobaby’s Marketing Manager Holly Brewer. “Ergobaby sleep products are all made with soft and breathable 100% cotton as it stretches with any movement and is great for yearround comfort. Tog ratings on fabric are also important for parents to consider. Ergobaby Sleep Bags come in three different tog ratings to help parents achieve the optimal temperature for restful sleep.” Paul also feels that parents are actively seeking products that claim breathability adding that The Green Sheep Group ‘are trying to educate on this rather than just state something is breathable’, “The word is often incorrectly over-used and often miss-understood by parents. Breathable can mean anything from a fabric offering some small amount of permeability to air (eg cotton), or it can mean an open mesh structure that barely restricts airflow at all. It can even mean an environment has some surface breathability, e.g. a raised pattern that allows air to circulate under or around a baby. With such varying interpretations of breathability, we always try to explain what we mean when using that word in relation to a product.”
