Babies are developing sores as desperate parents are forced to ration their nappies in the UK’s “disgraceful” worsening child poverty crisis, experts have warned. In Sunderland, one in eight babies born this year will be referred to Love, Amelia – a charity that supports new parents who would otherwise struggle for the bare essentials – such as clothes and nappies. That amounts to around 40 infants per month, born into one of the richest economies in the world and yet immediately experiencing a level of poverty that is heartbreaking to imagine.
“It’s frightening,” Steph Capewell, the charity’s chief executive told i . “The people who are referred, they’ve arrived in hospital, or they’re preparing for a child and there’s no place for that child to sleep, they’ll be on the floor, on the sofa – out of necessity rather than choice. “We see so many families where they’re having to ration nappies, where they only have enough for the nighttime and during the day [babies] are just at home without a nappy on – which means they can’t access appointments, they can’t go out and play, get some fresh air in the park.
“Or we’ve seen the stark reality where children have got pressure sores because [parents] are reusing soiled nappies or going too long between changes. “These are the real challenges that families are facing every day.” Sir Keir Starmer is facing rising calls from some within his party to do more to tackle child poverty but has s.