Sharing a bed with your baby increases risk of SIDS

According to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare, babies under three months old who share a bed with their parents are at risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

 

New recommendations insist that infants always sleep in their own bed to reduce the risk of cot death.  Experts had previously only warned parents who smoke or those who had consumed alcohol not to share their bed with their baby. However, they are so worried about their new discovery that they have issued new guidelines to highlight the danger.

 

SIDS is the unexpected death of a child under one and usually occurs without warning or symptoms while the baby is sleeping.  A report published by the British Medical Journal which analysed 1,500 cases of SIDS revealed that 22% took place while the baby slept in their parent’s bed

 

Kerstin Nordstrand from the National Board of Health and Welfare, says the new recommendations are important in highlighting the risks of sleeping beside infants under three. Professor Goeran Wennergren agrees: “It has been clear in the research in recent years that co-sleeping is a risk factor in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.”  .

 

Bob Carpenter, professor of Medical Statistics, found that babies who slept with their parents were five times more likely to suffer from cot death than those who sleep alone.