Hi Linda

The article that claims that bed sharing is associated with a significantly
raised risk of SIDS is:
Scragg et al  Bed sharing, smoking, and alcohol in the sudden infant death
syndrome. British Medical Journal 1993;307:1312-1318.

This was part of the large New Zealand Cot Death Study Group research - the
same group who found significant protective relationships between breastfeeding
and SIDS, and prone sleep position.

In this study, the main risk seemed to be for infants who bed shared and
who had mothers who smoked. The authors state that for infants of non-smoking
mothers, the results were inconsistent with an increased relative risk for
usual bed sharing in the last two weeks (before death) but not for bed sharing
in the last sleep !!

As smoking is a separate known risk factor for SIDS, the results of this study
are a warning to us, but not a definitive 'last word' on the subject.

Fiona Coombes
Perth Western Australia