-Some of you reported having trouble with the link.  Here's the story below:

--Julie Rosen, CD (DONA)



Bed-sharing with baby 

         



      Monday, October 27, 2003 

      By CATHERINE HOLAHAN
      STAFF WRITER 

      


        
      CHRIS PEDOTA / THE RECORD 
      Jennifer Lisimachio of Hoboken getting baby son Noah off to his morning nap in her bed. Once he's asleep, she will remove the pillows.
     

Until she let her kids sleep in her bed, Leslie Rebarber didn't get much rest.

When her first baby was born, Rebarber woke up to cries several times a night. Each time, she would get out of bed, walk over to the bassinet, and breast-feed for an hour in a chair until her baby fell asleep.

One night, out of sheer exhaustion, Rebarber brought her daughter into her bed and found she could breast-feed while sleeping lightly. From that night on, there were three in the master bed.

"It wasn't a conscious decision, it just evolved that way," the Englewood resident said. "It was the best way that I could sleep."

When her second daughter was born 16 months ago, she, too, began sleeping in the family bed. The oldest child, now 5, moved to a bed in her own room.

But sleeping beside their mothers may be dangerous for babies.

A recent study by a pediatric sleep expert states that babies are up to 40 times more likely to suffocate when sleeping in an adult bed.

The study analyzed eight years of data collected by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission on where and why infants died. It found that 391 infants in adult beds died in the 1990s, presumably from suffocation. 

During the four-year period from 1995 to 1998, the research found the risk of suffocation for babies in cribs was 0.63 deaths per 100,000 infants, compared with 25.5 deaths per 100,000 infants who suffocate in adult beds.

"The odds of death go up dramatically among babies who use adult beds. The numbers are gigantic, much higher than I had thought," said one of the researchers, Dr. James Kemp, an associate professor of pediatrics at St. Louis University School of Medicine and director of the Sleep Clinic at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital.

Babies are at increased risk of accidental death when sleeping with adults because their motor skills are not yet developed, leaving them defenseless if their parents roll on top of them or pin them against the headboard, or if soft bedding obscures their breathing, according to the study, published in the October issue of the journal Pediatrics.

"It sounds like a beautiful thing to be close to your baby, and it certainly is, but how can you do it safely?" Kemp said in a telephone interview. "The short answer is, I don't think [co-sleeping] is safe."

Estimates on the number of parents who co-sleep vary widely. Kemp puts the number at around 13 percent. Researchers who support the practice put the figure at more than 50 percent. 

The practice has long been debated. Proponents say it helps infants grow up healthy by allowing them to form secure attachments with their parents and breast-feed more frequently. Many believe it can prevent infants from dying of sleep apnea - where they suddenly stop breathing - because babies who sleep close to their parents seem to mimic their parents' breathing patterns. 

Opponents say it increases the risk of suffocation and can cause dependency on parents who will have to spend years trying to get the child to sleep alone. For others, sleeping with a child tossing and turning all night guarantees a bad night's sleep for everyone.

Doctors have weighed in on both sides of the issue. The American Academy of Pediatrics' official position on bed-sharing with a baby 12 months or younger is that it "may be hazardous." It does recommend, however, that parents sleep in the same room with the baby.

Proponents of co-sleeping say the research for Kemp's study was faulty. They insist that the incidence of suffocation would be negligible if the study used only parents who follow co-sleeping's common-sense rules, such as removing from the bed fluffy pillows and blankets that could smother the baby. They also complain that the study does not exclude cases where babies died after parents went to sleep drunk or under the influence of other drugs.

"Any time a baby dies in an adult bed they call it suffocation. ... They will never say it's SIDS [sudden infant death syndrome], and they don't take into account whether the mother is using a safe sleeping position or was using drugs," said Julie Rosen, a Teaneck resident who allowed her daughters to sleep beside her in bed. Her youngest, now 4, still sleeps in the bed.

"The biological norm is for us to sleep closely together. ... Sleeping separately is a recent phenomenon," she said.

Dr. James J. McKenna, director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, believes it is beneficial for babies to sleep beside their mothers.

In numerous articles, McKenna has maintained that co-sleeping enables parents to respond quickly to infant cries, ensuring the baby is safe and helping the infant's early emotional development by making it feel more secure. He says parents, particularly breast-feeding mothers, instinctually avoid rolling on top of their babies. 

McKenna criticizes Kemp's study for not distinguishing between parents who safely co-sleep and those who sleep with their babies in unsafe environments, such as on couches or on top of plush mattresses or while under the influence of alcohol.

"I'm always very aware of where my baby is," said Jennifer Lisimachio, a Hoboken resident and mother of two whose baby sleeps in her bed. "Suffocation is a non-risk in my eyes."

Lisimachio said she takes precautions to ensure she is co-sleeping safely. She does not use heavy blankets, there are no pillows, and her mattress is firm.

"Co-sleeping has been around since humans have been around," she said. "It is something that we used to use before we had heat, and babies still have that need to be near their mothers." 

McKenna argues that infants who sleep near their mothers have more antibodies to fight diseases than those who sleep alone because co-sleeping babies breast-feed more frequently when their mother is near, taking in more nutrients.

The sound and feel of a parent's breathing may also help regulate the infant's own breathing pattern, helping to reduce instances of death from sleep apnea.

"Mother-infant co-sleeping is inherently safe. It must be made dangerous by dangerous bed environments, like the baby being alone, by dangerous people in bed with a baby, or young children in bed with a baby," McKenna said. 

"Keep in mind that the largest increases in bed-sharing behavior have occurred here and abroad amongst middle-class whites - the very group that has experienced the sharpest declines in SIDS rates and other infant deaths." 

McKenna argues that Western society frowns upon co-sleeping because it seems to counter the value Western cultures put on independence. He also argues Westerners have an unnecessary fear of accidental suffocation.

"Emotionally, both babies and parents are designed for co-sleeping ... and it is unusual anywhere in the world where it does not occur," he said. He added that co-sleeping is not for every parent, but it is safe for parents determined to do it in a safe manner. 

Said Rosen: "There's nothing wrong with putting a baby to sleep in the crib, but I don't think people should be bullied into thinking [co-sleeping] is dangerous. I think women have a normal need to be with their babies after birth. There is kind of this fourth trimester where the baby still needs to be near you."

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