"Room-sharing” instead of “bed-sharing” is safest for newborns and infants

75% - 80% of babies who die from SIDS are not sleeping in cribs (www.sidsillinois.org). Providing a baby-friendly sleep environment is one of the best ways to protect your baby from SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).  A safe sleep environment for an infant consists of a safety-approved crib, a new, firm mattress, and a tight-fitting sheet.  No toys, bumpers, feather beds, sheep skins, blankets, or covers.

Adult beds were not meant for babies.  Babies are not only at an increased risk for SIDS in the adult bed, they are also 40 times more likely to die from accidentally suffocation or entrapment. This can happen from blankets, pillows, quilts, as well as other family members in the bed.  The newer memory foam, or Tempur-pedic mattresses, can be especially dangerous because...

they ‘mold” to baby’s body and may occlude breathing. New parents may have impaired instincts, or fall into a deeper than normal sleep, due to medication used to relieve pain, or just plain exhaustion.  Toddlers, as well as family pets, have poor spatial awareness, causing “overlay” dangers.

We recognize that close physical proximity to your baby promotes bonding, facilitates breastfeeding success, and often encourages better sleep for mom and dad.  Consider room sharing, instead of bed sharing.  Keep baby in the same room with you – in a safety approved crib or bassinet. And, remember to return baby back to his or her crib after feeding or changing the diaper.  Babies soon learn to feel safe, happy, and secure in their crib.  Additionally, this behavior promotes sleep training. Babies who are placed in their crib to sleep associate the crib with “sleep time”.  Another big “plus” for parents.

Comments

[Martin]

I absolutely agree, bed-sharing is too risky, especially for newborns. I've actually invested in a movement sensor device by angelcare. An alarm will go off if it does not detect any movement at all. The good thing is that it detects even the slightest movements (like from breathing). So I don't get constant false alarms.

I've read quite a bit about SIDS and the possible risk factors. I will admit that there are lots of conflicting views with regards to the causes.

Here are the top 3 things I personally do to minimize the chances of my baby falling victim to SIDS:

1. No bed-sharing
2. make sure Samantha sleeps on her back
3. invested in a chemical free organic crib mattress

For more information about SIDS, crib safety, and my personal experiences please visit: www.crib-mattress-guide.com

[inde]

You do realize how you are twisting your statistics right? The 75-80% of babies who die of SIDS outside the crib are not necessarily in an adult bed. They are very often in another place such as a couch. You mention exhaustion as a problem for parents who co-sleep, but parents who have to get up each and every time that a newborn needs to nurse (at least every two hours) are much more likely to fall asleep in an unsafe upholstered chair putting their children at risk (these deaths are then, ironically, classed as co-sleeping deaths). It is simply unfair to not separate out where the baby was sleeping.

Also, I've never been able to find any good statistics about what percentage of families co-sleep and how often they do so. If the percentage of co-sleepers is higher than what we assume this could make a big difference in how we interpret the results. What I do know is that every single successful breastfeeding parent that I have spoken with has co-slept at least part time. This information is very hush, hush because of the fear that they will get in trouble or be seen as bad parents who risk their children.

What we need is a good educational campaign on how to co-sleep safely for those who choose to do so. When our children were very young we put our mattress directly on the floor away from the wall, removed the comforter, had the baby sleep next to mom instead of dad (check James McKenna's research to see that breastfeeding moms are actually very aware when sleeping with their infants). We never did risky behaviors like drinking before sleeping with our infants. If safety steps like these were publicized then parents would be able to make good decisions that work for their families. Instead a one size fits all approach is pushed, leaving many of those families who choose to co-sleep in ignorance of how to do so safely.

[Safety Squad]

Thanks again Indie for reading and taking the time to post a comment. Our mission at Safety Squad is to provide the community with the best, current safety practices. We know that "parenting" issues are complex and a balance between practicality, safety, nurturing, societal norms, and instinct. Most often the answers are not absolute and we are not here to debate all the facets. We don't label or assign value to parenting decisions - we appreciate that everyone is doing the best they can with the information they have. Furthermore, we are not denying that co-sleeping has benefits. However, from a pure safety perspective, the safest place for an newborn and young infant to sleep is in a bare crib. This is validated by research, and proposed by all leading safety authorities. You are correct in that there are ways to make co-sleeping safer. And we alluded to some of these in our recent blog (i.e., babies need to sleep on a firm surface - no sofas, chairs, water beds, memory foam mattresses). Many authorities like the American Academy of Pediatrics and Dr. Sears (http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t102200.asp) provides tips on ways to co-sleep safer.

We love to hear from our readers. So, please continue to stay tuned to Safety Squad and let us know what you like and don't like.

Be safe. Be well.

[Safety Squad]

Thanks for the Link Martin. We were considering a piece on monitors at one point. It might be time to resurrect that notion.