I'm trying to get the whole paper.

This paper found bed-sharing was associated with *poorer* 
infant-materbal bonding.

At first glance, and it is a glance, the abstract seems to me to 
indicate the study might not be powered enough to make the 
distinctions. Also, the mothers who bed-shared might not actually 
like doing it....and be therefore irritated with their babies.

Comments?






Mitchell EA, Hutchison BL, Thompson JM, et al.
Exploratory study of bed-sharing and maternal-infant bonding.
J Paediatr Child Health 2015;doi: 10.1111/jpc.12833.

AIM: Bed-sharing with an infant is controversial due to the increased 
risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy versus postulated benefits 
of the practice such as enhanced breastfeeding and maternal-infant 
bonding. This study evaluated the association between bed-sharing and 
maternal-infant bonding. METHODS: Four hundred randomly selected 
mothers who had delivered in a large maternity unit in Auckland and 
whose infants were between the ages of 6 weeks and 4 months were sent 
a postal questionnaire asking about their bed-sharing practices last 
night, usually, and in the last 2 weeks. Included in the 
questionnaire were factors 1 and 2 questions from the Postpartum 
Bonding Questionnaire to assess maternal-infant bonding.

RESULTS: Responders totalled 172 (43%), and infants were a mean age 
of 11 weeks. Fourteen per cent of infants slept in a bed-sharing 
situation last night, 8% usually, and 41% had slept with an adult in 
the last 2 weeks. Nine per cent of mothers scored above the cut-off 
for factor 1 for impaired maternal-infant bonding. Infants of these 
mothers were more likely to bed-share last night, usually, and in the 
last 2 weeks, and were less likely to use a pacifier and to 
breastfeed. Bed-sharing mothers scored more highly on individual 
questions relating to being annoyed or irritated by their baby. 
CONCLUSION: There is an inverse association between bed-sharing and 
maternal-infant bonding, which is contrary to the often expressed 
belief that bed-sharing enhances maternal-infant bonding.


Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
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