Last week I wrote asking help in finding references that looked at
cosleeping and SIDS because I wanted to write a letter in reply to an
article in our local paper. I thought some of you might be interested in
the final result.
Karleen
Australia


Dear Sir/Madam

Your article "Death of infant prompts warning" Express Advocate 7/1/00
addressed the issue of the risk of SIDS associated with parents and infants
sharing a bed (also called co-sleeping). Unfortunately this article has
done little to assist parents in their search for accurate, up to date
information on how to reduce the risk of SIDS. It appears that the NSW
Department of Health's spokesman has fallen prey to an unfortunate
characteristic of some medical practitioners that assumes the current
practice of our western culture is normal and alternative practices are
aberrant, regardless of the actual research data. This led to the assertion
that sleeping with your baby is dangerous.

The fact is, that the overwhelming majority of infants in the world safely
sleep with their parents, and this has been the norm for thousands of
years. Nearly all infants in Japan, for instance, bed share and Japan has
the lowest rate of SIDS in the world. The latest research backs the safety
of co-sleeping, where parents do not smoke. A study on SIDS published in
the British Medical Journal late in 1999 concludes "There is no evidence
that bed sharing is hazardous for infants of parents who do not smoke."
This is not an isolated study. In addition, the current feeling in some
areas of the research community is that co-sleeping may even reduce SIDS.
It is thought that this may be because bed sharing mother-infant pairs do
not sleep as deeply as solitary sleepers and babies will often match their
heartbeat and respirations with their mother helping to stabilise their own
patterns.

Parents who smoke or who are under the influence of drugs should not bed
share. Babies and adults should not sleep together on a lounge, sofa or
waterbed. When bed sharing sensible precautions should be taken to ensure
that the baby is not too hot or surrounded by pillows or bed linen.
However, bed sharing is a common and normative practice and has health and
social benefits for parents and infants that, although not detailed here,
are not insubstantial. Co-sleeping is a safe family parenting choice. It is
irresponsible to say otherwise.

Yours Faithfully,


Karleen Gribble PhD

Note to the editor: The contents of this letter are verifiable in the
following references.

Blair, P. S., Fleming, P. J., Smith, I. J., Platt, M. W., Young, J., Nadin,
P., Berry, P. J. and Golding, J. (1999). Babies sleeping with parents: case
control study of factors influencing the risk of the sudden infant death
syndrome. British Medical Journal 319: 1457-1462.
Klonoff-Cohen, H. and Edelstein, S. L. (1995). Bed sharing and the sudden
infant death syndrome. British Medical Journal 311: 1269-1272.
McKenna, J. J., Mosko, S., Dungy, C. and McAninch, J. (1990). Sleep and
arousal patterns of co-sleeping human mother/infant pairs: a preliminary
physiological study with implications for the study of sudden infant death
syndrome (SIDS). American Journal of Physical Anthropology 83: 331-334.
McKenna, J., Mosko, S., Richard, C., Drummond, S., Hunt, L., Cetel, M. B.
and Arpaia, J. (1994). Experimental studies of infant-parent co-sleeping:
mutual physiological and behavioural influences and their relevance to SIDS
(sudden infant death syndrome). Early Human Development 15: 187-201.

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