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'Cot death risk' from bed-sharing

Around 120 baby deaths could be prevented in the UK every year if parents stopped sharing beds with their children, according to research by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

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Professor: Increased risk 'for all babies who bed share'

Research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has found that the number of cot deaths in the UK could be reduced if parents did not share beds with their children.

Authors examined data from five studies on cot death, including the records of 1,472 cot death cases and 4,679 control cases.

Research showed that babies who slept in their parents' beds had a five-fold increase of cot death compared to children who slept in a cot in the parents' room.

Although it is clear that smoking and drinking greatly increase the risk of cot death while bed sharing, our study shows that there is in fact an increased risk for all babies under three months who bed share, even if their parents do not smoke or drink.

If parents were made aware of the risks of sleeping with their baby, and room sharing was instead promoted in the same way that the 'Back to Sleep' campaign was promoted 20 years ago to advise parents to place their newborn infants to sleep on their backs, we could achieve a substantial reduction in cot death rates in the UK.

– Professor Bob Carpenter, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
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'Cot death risk' from bed-sharing

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