Do not share your bed with your newborn - Cot death risk

Main Category: Sleep / Sleep Disorders / Insomnia
Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 16 Jan 2004 - 0:00 PDT

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Researchers have found that you are increasing the cot-death risk of your newborn (up to eight weeks old) if you sleep with him/her. Previously, parents had been advised that there is no increased risk so long as you do not smoke, drink or take drugs.

The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID) in the UK, in view of the findings of their latest research, have changed their advice.

The study (the Lancet) called on experts throughout Europe (they collaborated). 745 cases were studied. According to FSID Director, Joyce Epstein, "The safest place for a baby to sleep is in a separate cot in the parents' bedroom.

(For non-native readers of English: Cot = Baby bed, with walls on the side that you slide up and down. Spanish - Cuna)

'Today, FSID will start alerting parents to the fact that research has found a link between cot death and bed-sharing with babies under eight weeks of age.'

According to the studies, a newborn (two-weeks old) who sleeps with his parents (non-smoking) is at two-and-a-half times the risk of cot death as a baby who sleeps in his own cot.

Even at eights weeks the risk is still there, but less (1.75 times the risk of babies who sleep in their own cots in the same room as their parents).

Researchers said they did not know why the risk is great when newborns sleep with their parents in their beds with them. They said that further research was needed.

Other factors that increase the risk of cot-deaths

The FSID confirmed that other risk factors were still relevant. Never cover your newborn's head (do not cover with bedding), do not use a duvet.

They also said that 60% of cot deaths in Europe are probably due to laying babies on their front or side (rather than on their backs).

Prof. Robert Carpenter (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), who took part in this study said, 'Our analysis shows that the risk of cot death may be substantially reduced by taking a number of simple steps, most crucially ensuring the infant is put to sleep on its back, with no bedding other than a jumpsuit or Babygro, or in a well-fitting cotton or acrylic sleeping bag of not more than two or three tog.

'Use of a sleeping bag avoids the risks associated with using a duvet, and may also reduce the risk of a child overheating or sweating, and by restricting a child's movement ensures its head does not become covered.
v 'It is safest if a baby sleeps in a cot, in the parents' room.'

He also said that smoking while pregnant increases the risk of cot death. He further added that if either parent smokes in the vicinity of the child (newborn), that child's risk of cot-death is significantly increased.

In the UK 7 babies a week die from cot-death (it is thought).

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