CARE YOUR BABY

Should You Bring Your Baby into Bed?
Factors and precautions to consider

By Susan Spicer

Many parents find bringing their babies into bed helps make nights a little easier. But a recent statement by the Canadian Paediatric Society (CPS) has called bed sharing into question: "For the first year of life, the safest place for babies to sleep is in their own crib, and in the parent's room for the first six months," says the statement.

Dr. Denis Leduc is one of the authors of the statement and is former chair of the CPS community paediatrics committee. Leduc explains that in recent years there's been an increased pursuit of the causes of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). While we can't yet identify the exact causes of these unexpected deaths, researchers continue to identify specific risk factors.

It's difficult for health professionals and parents alike to weigh the risks, the odds and the evidence against the reality of family life. If, for instance, you're breastfeeding your baby --which Leduc says in and of itself is probably protective against SIDS-- and getting up frequently throughout the night to get the baby from the crib and then struggling to stay awake while you feed him, chances are you'll end up tired and frustrated. Should a mom who brings a baby into bed to nurse more comfortably and then drifts off to sleep worry that she is putting her baby at risk?

The CPS statement acknowledges that bed sharing is widespread and has, in fact, increased in Canada. (In 1999, almost 83 percent of 1,500 parents responding to a Today's Parent survey said they shared sleep with their babies at least some of the time.) So, how does Leduc respond to a parent who wants to know how to bed-share safely? Leduc says parents have to know the risk factors associated with SIDS. "The evidence we have doesn't allow me to recommend bed haring, but if you eliminate all the risk factors that have been identified -- if you've never smoked, if you don't drink or take drugs, if the family bed is really free of all of the things that a aby could get wrapped up or tangled in, if it's a firm mattress and not a waterbed — then bed sharing is in all likelihood safe."

Source: todaysparent.com