The ICON programme

If you are worried about the safety or wellbeing of a child or young person in Devon,
please complete the request for support online form.

If you think that the child is at risk of significant harm,
contact our Front Door directly by calling 0345 155 1071.

In an emergency call 999.

The ICON programme aims to help prevent abusive head trauma by offering support to parents to help them cope with a crying baby.

ICON’s main message is that if the crying gets too much, it’s ok to walk away – never, ever shake a baby.

What is ICON?

Sometimes for parents they have tried everything. They have fed, changed, cuddled, checked temperature, gone through the HANDi app to check their child is not unwell, undertaken skin-to-skin contact but still the baby continues crying. ICON provides additional guidance on what to expect, how to cope and what you can do.

ICON is an evidenced based programme consisting of a series of brief ‘touchpoint’ interventions that reinforce the simple message making up the ICON acronym of:

I – Infant crying is normal. And it will stop! Babies start to cry more frequently from around two weeks of age with a peak at around two months of age. Not being able to stop your baby crying at this age does not make you a bad parent!
C – Comforting methods can help. Sometimes just by soothing the baby can make the crying stop. After checking that the baby is not ill, run through some other basic checks e.g. are they hungry? Do they need a nappy change? Are they too hot or too cold? Some soothing techniques might be holding the baby skin to skin, singing/humming to the baby, let them hear a repeated or soothing sound, take them out for a walk – it this is difficult because of lockdown arrangements, walking around the house or the garden can have the same effect
O – It’s okay to walk away If you have checked the baby is safe and the crying is getting to you. After a few minutes when you are feeling calm, go back and check on the baby. Think about what will help you calm down – listening to music, having a cuppa, deep breathing, maybe call someone to offload.
N – Never, ever shake a baby. It can cause lasting brain damage and death.

You can find more detailed guidance on these steps here.