Bedsharing, Breastfeeding Affect SIDS Risk

NEW YORK (Reuters) -- How, and where, an infant sleeps may reduce the
risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS),
according to two articles in the August issue of Pediatrics.

In the first report, the American Academy of Pediatrics supports the
opinion of a panel of experts brought together by the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The group says
several factors increase infants' risk for SIDS,
especially sleeping on their stomachs. That's why parents are encouraged
to put babies to sleep lying on their backs.

But, the experts caution that infants who sleep in bed with their
mothers may also be at risk for SIDS if they are put to sleep on
soft surfaces -- such as quilts, blankets, pillows and comforters --
things that are often on a mother's bed.

If the mother smokes or drinks alcohol, the risk of a child dying in the
mother's bed increases because the mother might not be
thinking clearly.

In the other report, researchers from the University of Notre Dame in
Indiana and the University of California in Irvine say
infants who sleep with their mothers may actually be healthier because
they breastfeed more often and for longer periods of
time during the night.

These researchers observed 35 mothers and their infants at a sleep
clinic to monitor how often babies were breastfed when
they slept with their mothers compared with when they slept alone. They
report that "...routinely bedsharing infants breastfed
approximately three times longer during the night than infants who
routinely slept separately."

They speculate that infants who sleep with their mothers can smell their
mother's breast milk and so they turn toward their
mothers more often. The researchers also think mothers who sleep with
their babies can hear and sense when an infant is
waking up and wants to breastfeed. Both of these reasons may explain why
babies who sleep with their mothers may
breastfeed more often. These babies may also gain weight more rapidly
and even achieve immunologic protection against
diseases from the breast milk.

The researchers also discovered that the mothers may benefit from
sleeping with the child because prolonged nursing
suppresses ovulation and delays the renewed onset of menstruation.
Without the blood loss associated with menstruation,
women have higher iron levels and because they are not ovulating the
mothers won't get pregnant, thereby allowing time for
their bodies to recuperate from the recent pregnancy and childbirth.

The American Academy of Pediatrics acknowledges that bedsharing can help
mothers and infants become more attuned to
each other and perhaps increase breastfeeding. But in a press release,
the organization states that "...no scientific studies prove
bedsharing reduces SIDS." It also points out that "...under certain
conditions, bed sharing may actually increase SIDS risk,
especially if the baby sleeps on its stomach on a comforter or other
soft surface." SOURCE: Pediatrics (1997;100:214-219,
272)