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They Say: Alcohol Is a Factor in Co-Sleeping Deaths
A recent UK study published in the British Medical Journal found that among 80 cases of SIDS studied, 54 percent happened while co-sleeping with an adult, a finding similar to other co-sleeping studies. But they also found that a large percentage of their control group were also co-sleeping, and none of them had died of SIDS. So they dug a little deeper.
What they found was that babies who died while co-sleeping were more likely than the control group to have slept with a parent who’d been drinking or using drugs. And they were also more likely to have died while sleeping with a parent on a sofa.
In an odd way, this study seems to actually support co-sleeping … with conditions. Study co-author Peter S. Blair told ABC News:
“The safest place for an infant to sleep is in a cot [crib] beside the parents’ bed. Based on evidence from research into SIDS, it is questionable whether advice to avoid bed sharing is generalizable and whether such a simplistic approach would do no harm.
“Parents of young infants need to feed them during the night, sometimes several times, and if we demonize the parents’ bed, we may be in danger of the sofa being chosen.”
Basically, if you tell a parent not it’s not safe to bring a child to bed, they might just bring her to the sofa instead. Blair and his colleagues believe that co-sleeping deaths may have more to do with parenting behavior and education than positioning itself. Drugs, alcohol, sleeping with a pillow or heavy blankets, or attemping to sleep with baby on a sofa may put babies at higher risk of dying from suffocation or SIDS than parents who co-sleep conscientiously.
That said, most experts believe that babies are safest in a crib, bassinet, or co-sleeper next to the bed for the first six months of life. In Maine, three babies have died just this month after sharing a bed with a parent.
Did you co-sleep with your kids? Or do you think that babies are safe in their own bed at night?
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snarky mama commented on Oct 15 09 at 1:21 pmI co-sleep with all 3 of my children (yes, present tense, and yes 3, but not usually all at the same time), and I also think babies are safe in their own beds. Co-sleeping and crib-sleeping can be equally safe if done correctly.
Rachel commented on Oct 15 09 at 6:27 pmI agree with what has been said before: if steps are taken to make sure the environment is safe, a baby can be safe in their crib or bedsharing (sleeping in the same room with parents is considered a form of cosleeping).
Since this study was published on BMJ, there have been all kinds of headlines about it–and most of them have blown the results out of proportion. (I am happy to see that the ABC news article you linked to was more to the point.) What’s interesting is that when it was first made public, the reaction was entirely different. In fact, a blog was posted on your site about it (http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2008/12/02/they-say-cosleeping-does-not-cause-SIDS.aspx).
In my opinion, it’s important to focus on making your baby’s sleep environment safe, no matter where that happens to be. I think articles that get caught up in demonizing cosleeping completely miss that point.
If you want to read more, I wrote a huge response to this study on my blog:
http://mamajade.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/between-the-headlines-cosleeping-is-not-to-blame/(Sorry about the long links, I wasn’t sure if html was allowed :)
Mistress_Scorpio commented on Oct 15 09 at 8:30 pmMy husband and I cosleep with our 1 1/2 yo son and have since he was born. . I’ve always suspected that the studies about cosleeping were missing a huge chunk of info and this study confirms my feelings.
Manjari commented on Oct 15 09 at 9:25 pmOur twins slept with us from about 5 months old to about 16 months old when they moved to a different mattress in the same room. When we all slept together it was on a mattress on the floor, and we made sure it was safe. I’m glad to see studies differentiate between unsafe practices and co-sleeping in general.
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