Sleep is essential for newborn babies, and the first year of life is filled with a great number of milestones. Sleeping throughout the night on a regular basis is a milestone many parents will look forward to the most.

Sleep patterns change throughout the first year of a baby’s life, and the number of hours sleep they need also gradually changes. It’s essential to consistently maintain a good sleeping pattern for human development, as the brain experiences intense activity building foundations for us to learn and grow while we sleep. This includes the development of our behaviours, emotions, and immune system.

However, babies are very fragile and immobile, meaning they can’t change position and remove blankets or obstructions as adults can. This is why safe sleep is an important topic and even more important when it comes to putting it into practice and raising awareness.

Safe sleep for babies

Helping babies sleep safely is extremely important and something many new parents are somewhat anxious about. When it comes to helping your baby sleep safely, there are multiple things you can do, as suggested by The Lullaby Trust.

  • Always place your baby on their back to sleep.
  • Place your baby in a separate cot or Moses basket next to your bed for the first six months.
  • Place your baby in the feet to foot position with their feet at the very end of the cot or Moses basket.
  • Keep soft bedding such as blankets, pillows, and soft toys out of your baby’s sleep area.

Another suggestion from The Lullaby Trust is to keep things simple and remember the safest cot is a clear cot.

Safe sleep search trends

When it comes to safe sleep, you must always consider the conditions in which your baby sleeps, the most important being the location and temperature suitability for the baby.

Regarding search trends for “safe sleep”, the search term is expected to have a high volume as it is a widely discussed topic among pregnant women and families with newborn babies.

When searching for various safe sleep products, one that comes up often and is deemed important is a baby mattress. The Lullaby Trust recommends babies sleep in their own clear, flat, separate sleep space, which can also be a cot or a Moses basket.

Google Trends shows that a search for ‘baby mattress’ is consistently searched for in the UK. The graph has created a ‘heartbeat’ style pattern that doesn’t appear to carry any drops. This is a good sign as it implies this product or information on this product is of consistent interest among searchers.

Source: Google Trends

Baby thermometer

Another extremely important part of safe sleep is ensuring the baby’s temperature is monitored. You need to ensure your baby is always at a comfortable room temperature, especially throughout the night. It’s recommended by The Lullaby Trust that the room temperature where babies sleep is kept at 16-20°C.

Source: Google Trends

Google Trends show the searches for ‘baby thermometer’ over the last five years, and the searches seem consistent with a heartbeat-style pattern. However, noticeably there is a sudden spike in searches for baby thermometers. This happened around March 2020.

This sudden spike in searches may have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, as this was when lockdown began in the UK, and a high temperature was being reported as one of the main symptoms to look out for during the pandemic.

Swaddling

Swaddling is common practice to help settle young babies to help them fall asleep. Some other places in the world can refer to the term as ‘wrapping’ instead of swaddling. This practice is when you wrap a baby in a light, breathable blanket to help them feel calm and sleepy.

Any parents and caregivers looking into swaddling should recognize the importance of doing it correctly. Below are the results for the search term for ‘swaddle’ throughout the last five years. Within this graph, there have been some interesting rises and falls throughout searches over the last few years, but this also remains consistent, with no extreme falls in the search volume.

Source: Google Trends

Bringing these three search terms together for, it’s clear there is a consistent search volume for safe sleep information or products within the UK. There have been no drastic drops in the searches, and interest over time remains consistent. However, interestingly enough, swaddle appears to be the most searched term above ‘safe sleep.’

Source: Google Trends

Sleep safe is a consistently searched topic, and something searchers in the UK are interested in, especially when it comes to searches on baby thermometers, baby mattresses, and swaddling. Knowing which way, the search is going to go can be incredibly useful for a brand. However, the data shown by Google Trends is not suggesting an upward or even a downward trend in searches. All we have is a consistent search trend across the years.

Looking closely and comparing the searches from the last 12 months, there is a consistent up and down with searches. No extreme jumps and no extreme falls among these four search terms, and there’s not much to suggest there is a seasonality with searches as one would expect.

Source: Google Trends

Remembering that the data presented by Google Trends is based on actual search queries and not guesses solidifies the fact that these four topics with a focus on safe sleep are searched for on a regular basis. Based on the information we have, these topics and products are searched for as a standard search without any brands being mentioned.

In conclusion, safe sleep is a niche topic that impacts many new parents and appears to be a consistent search topic. Whether this is for products or safe sleep in general, there are clear potential leads for a new product or brand.