The study by Durham University found that mothers
who shared their bed with their babies for at least an hour a week were more likely to continue breastfeeding past six months but mothers who go to their baby's cot to breastfeed are more likely to give up before six months.
If you're one of the 22 percent of BabyCenter moms
who share a bed with their baby, you can reduce your baby's risk of SIDS by following a few basic guidelines.
Parents
who share a bed with their baby:
The woman
who shares her bed with her baby has failed.
Not exact matches
The Lullaby Trust «s Judith Howard has been advising and helping parents
who have lost children to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) for several years and has said: «Ninety per cent of sudden infant deaths happen in the first six months and we're now finding that when you get a death in the first month of life, it's nearly always because the
baby has been co-sleeping or
bed -
sharing with a parent.
Babies who bed -
share and
share time
with their moms at night can often get a third or more of their caloric intake during the night.
And a large 2013 study found that breastfeeding
babies younger than 3 months
who bed -
shared with adults were five times more likely to die of SIDS, even when their parents were not using tobacco, alcohol, or drugs.
The study found that between 1993 and 2000, the number of
babies 7 months old or younger
who usually
shared a
bed with an adult grew from 5.5 percent to 12.8 percent.
The Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper — a bassinet / crib which Dr. McKenna has recommended as one way to enjoy close proximity
with a
baby for parents
who are concerned about
bed -
sharing
Studies suggest that the odds of SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, are much greater — 16 to 100 times greater — for
babies who bed share with a mother or other adult
who smokes.
And, as mentioned above, another study found no elevated SIDS risk for
babies who shared a
bed with their mothers only (Hauck and Herman 2006).
It clearly lays out the risks for SIDS for
babies who share a
bed with parents, and it purports to adequately take other risk factors into account in its analysis.
So let's look at the raw numbers instead: Among the 1,472
babies who died of SIDS, 22.2 % were bedsharing
with parents; of the 4,679 control
babies who did not die of SIDS, 9.6 % were
sharing a
bed with parents the day of the study interview.
There are also some physicians
who say that
sharing a
bed with your
baby can also protect him or her against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
Those mothers
who breastfeed say that
sharing their
bed with their newborn or older
baby makes breastfeeding much easier and in turn the get more sleep.
The convenience of co-sleeping for breastfeeding at night is the reason parents most commonly give for choosing to co - sleep.9 Mothers
who bed -
share with their
baby tend to breastfeed longer and maintain exclusive breastfeeding longer than those
who do not co - sleep.10 — 12
Francine Bates, chief executive of the British
baby charity, The Lullaby Trust, told WebMD Boots that the study shows that parents
who choose to
share a
bed with their infants should be cautious.
The Australian Breastfeeding Associations says that mothers
who bed -
share with their
baby tend to breastfeed longer than those
who do not co-sleep.
While it isn't the most protective co-sleeper, it's a good idea for parents
who are
bed -
sharing with baby and want some type of added protection against suffocation.
Co-sleeping
with infants is possible, but parents
who are on medications or
who sleep very heavily should avoid
bed sharing for the safety of their
baby.
It is not recommended to
bed share with babies who are under six months of age, and some professionals believe
babies should be at least 12 months before it's safe to try
bed sharing.
If you have a partner
who will also be
sharing the same
bed, the best setup is usually your partner, toddler, you, and
baby on the outside next to you
with a sturdy
bed rail.
Sharing sleep is very popular
with parents (particularly nursing mothers) of young
babies who wake throughout the night, since it allows parents to avoid getting up out of
bed and traveling up and down a dark hallway.
To date there is no research to show that giving a pacifier to a
baby who falls asleep breastfeeding while
sharing a
bed with his mother reduces his risk of SIDS.
It was previously observed that mothers
who started
bed -
sharing in their
babies» first month of life were twice as likely to still be breastfeeding when their
baby was 4 months of age, in comparison
with women
who breastfed their
baby in the absence of early
bed -
sharing [23].
Survey respondents
who received Medicaid, however, were less likely than those
who did not receive Medicaid to put their infant to sleep alone in a crib and more likely to
share their
bed with their
baby.