Simple answer - no-one knows for sure. We don't even understand why SIDS happens in the first place, so we sure as heck don't understand why particular factors make it more or less likely. There's no doubt that the risk exists - multiple studies have shown bedsharing with a smoker to be much riskier than bedsharing with a non-smoker - but we can only theorise as to *why* it exists.

However, the theory - which sounds a perfectly reasonable one to me - is that it's related to the infant spending many hours in close enough proximity to a smoker to be continually breathing their exhaled air, with all the gunk that that carries with it. Carbon monoxide is an extremely likely culprit here (we know that smokers have higher exhaled levels of CO than non-smokers, and that it's a silent killer when breathed in in sufficient quantities) but there may be others, for all we know.


Best wishes,

Dr Sarah Vaughan
MBChB MRCGP

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