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15 July 2005
Bed Sharing Implicated In SIDS 
Statistics report the leading cause of death among infants below the age of one to be sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). And while previous studies have shown that sharing a bed with parents who smoke increases the risk of SIDS, a new study in The Journal of Pediatrics has found a relationship between SIDS and bed sharing, even if the parents are non-smokers. The researchers looked at over 100 cases of SIDS in Scotland between 1996 and 2000. Information about the baby's exposure to smoke and the parents' infant-care practices were provided by the parents to the researchers. After analyzing the data, the researchers found that 90 percent of the babies died while sleeping at night. The most striking figure however, was that 52 percent of the babies had shared a bed, cot or couch or other surface at some point during the day or night that they died. Of the infants that died, 87 percent were found in their parents' beds. The researchers, led by David Tappin from the University of Glasgow, say a relationship exists between SIDS, bed sharing, couch sharing and the location of the infants when they died. They believe the relationship is more pronounced when the babies are less than 11 weeks old, regardless of how long they shared a sleep surface, their proximity to parents, their location in the bed, or their exposure to smoke. In this study, sleeping in a separate room did not increase the risk of SIDS, unless the parents were smokers. Sleeping between parents may put extra stress on the infant and could position the baby too close to or underneath pillows or blankets, speculate the researchers. "The safest place for your baby to sleep is in a crib in your room for the first six months," concluded Tappin.
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