Judith Stovell, a volunteer with Baby Basics UK, said the impact of bed poverty was felt far and wide.
She said: “So many people now are just struggling to put food on the table to heat their homes and then when a baby comes along, just to provide for them is one stretch too many.
“Parents don’t get a good night’s sleep, children don’t get a good night’s sleep, or if they’ve got older children and they’ve not been to sleep, then it affects their schooling, it just has so many knock-on effects.
“It just crushes people and there’s a shame attached to that that you feel you can’t provide for people.”
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