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If you have ever wanted to soothe your baby by letting the infant sleep in bed with you, you may want to reconsider. A new study says that bed sharing is the No. 1 cause of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
The study conducted by the American Academy of Pediatrics determined the leading risk factors for SIDS. The results showed that the risks for infants changed with the child’s age.
Nearly three-quarters, 73.8 percent, of sleep-related deaths among infants younger than 3 months were attributed to bed-sharing, researchers concluded in the Academy’s July 14 journal, Pediatrics.
More than half of sleep-related deaths of infants from 4 months to 1 year, 58.9 percent, involved bed-sharing, they said.
“Many parents feel that their infant is less likely to die during sleep if they are bed-sharing,” said Anna-based pediatrician Kathy Swafford, medical director of the Children’s Medical Resource Network. “This study negates that belief.”
The researchers analyzed 8,207 deaths that were reported to the National Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Deaths Case Reporting System between 2004 and 2012 in 24 states. Illinois was not included because it does not report to the system.
They found the primary causes of deaths were bed-sharing, objects in an infants sleep environment, the location of sleep, such as a bed or crib, and the sleep position, such as sleeping on the back, the researchers said.
“It has been assumed by some that bed-sharing can be made safe if measures such as eliminating soft bedding from the adult bed are followed, but our findings raise questions about the validity of this assumption,” they concluded.
Proponents of bed-sharing counter that other factors come into play when fatalities occur, such as alcohol or drug use, unsafe beds or adults who smoke cigarettes.
One proponent, pediatrician William Sears, an associate clinical professor at the University of California-Irvine and a medical consultant for the magazine, Parenting, maintains parents should be educated on safe co-sleeping practices, instead.
On his website, Ask Dr. Sears, the pediatrician sites numerous studies he says conclude co-sleeping including bed-sharing reduces Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
“Worldwide research shows that the SIDS rate is lowest, and even unheard of, in countries where co-sleeping is the norm,” he stated. “Babies who sleep either in or next to their parents’ bed have a four-fold decrease in the chance of SIDS.”
Agencies/Canadajournal
