{"id":84737,"date":"2013-05-21T15:40:40","date_gmt":"2013-05-21T15:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2013\/05\/bed-sharing-raises-cot-death-risk\/"},"modified":"2013-05-21T15:40:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-21T15:40:40","slug":"bed-sharing-raises-cot-death-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2013\/05\/21\/bed-sharing-raises-cot-death-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Bed-sharing “raises cot death risk”"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Sharing a bed with a newborn increases the risk of sudden infant death syndrome fivefold, research claims.<\/p>\n

The risk applies even if parents avoid tobacco, alcohol and drugs – other factors firmly linked to cot deaths.<\/p>\n

The BMJ Open research compared nearly 1,500 cot deaths with a control group of more than 4,500 parents.<\/p>\n

Current guidance in the UK is that parents should decide where their baby sleeps, but says the safest option is in a crib or cot in the same room.<\/p>\n

No consensus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many other countries, such as the US and the Netherlands, go further and say parents should not share a bed with their baby for the first three months of his or her life.<\/p>\n

Prof Bob Carpenter, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, carried out the analysis and says the UK should now follow suit and “take a more definitive stance against bed-sharing for babies under three months”.<\/p>\n

The government said it had asked the public health watchdog NICE to urgently examine its guidance on co-sleeping in light of this new study.<\/p>\n

Unicef UK is concerned that any guidance that recommends the total avoidance of bed-sharing could end up forcing parents into much riskier practices such as feeding in arm-chairs or sofas where the risk of suffocating the baby is far higher.<\/p>\n

Others question how robust the latest analysis is.<\/p>\n

Prof Carpenter maintains avoiding bed-sharing would save lives – by his calculations, 120 of the 300 cot deaths that occur in the UK each year.<\/p>\n

In his analysis, one or both parents had been sleeping with their child at the time of death in a fifth of cases.<\/p>\n

Only one in every 10 parents in the control group said they had shared a bed with their baby.<\/p>\n

Even in very low-risk breastfed babies, where there were no risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) other than that they had slept in their parents’ bed, 81% of cot deaths in infants under three months of age could have been prevented by not bed sharing.<\/p>\n

Prof Carpenter says he is not suggesting that babies should be banned from being in the parents’ bed for comfort and feeding.<\/p>\n

This has been investigated in previous studies and has not been found to be a risk factor, provided the infant is returned to his or her own cot for sleep.<\/p>\n

But he says evidence shows that babies are safest sleeping alone in their own cot in the same bedroom as their parent or carer.<\/p>\n

Francine Bates, of the safer baby sleep charity The Lullaby Trust, said: “We recognise that some parents will choose to sleep with their babies as opposed to placing them in a cot or a Moses basket next to their bed.<\/p>\n

“The Lullaby Trust supports parental choice but we would also urge every new mother and father to weigh up the known risks of sharing a bed with their baby and, in light of their own situation, take appropriate precautions.<\/p>\n

“Our core message remains that the safest place for a baby to sleep for the first six months is in a crib or cot in the same room as a parent or carer.”<\/p>\n

The Royal College of Midwives offers the same advice.<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/strong><\/p>\n

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