There has been a split acceptance over the idea of parents co-sleeping with their baby. Co-sleeping is when parents sleep with their baby in the same bed.
In general, parents want to co-sleep because it is more convenient, especially if the mother is breastfeeding the baby. Moreover, parents think that having their baby beside them keep their child safe. However, several studies show otherwise. In fact, doing so may endanger newborns.
A separate study done in 2013 and 2014 suggest the same idea, that bed sharing is a risk factor for children three months old and younger to die of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), also known as crib death or cot death, Yahoo Parenting reports.
According to Science Daily, a study reveals that when parents sleep with their breastfeed baby, it increases the baby's risk of crib death five times, even if the parents have no smoking problems.
Several countries have different perspective on this. The US and Netherlands agreed that all parents should not co-sleep with their babies for the first three months. However, in UK, only parents who smoke are advised not to shared bed with their newborn. The 2013 study found out that 81 percent of crib deaths among newborns under three months could have been prevented if the parents did not sleep with their babies on the same bed.
Professor Bob Carpenter from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the lead author of the said study, said, "Currently in the UK more than half of cot deaths occur while a baby is sleeping in the same bed as its parents. Although it is clear that smoking and drinking greatly increase the risk of cot death while bed sharing, our study shows that there is in fact an increased risk for all babies under 3 months who bed share, even if their parents do not smoke or drink."
Pediatricain and co-sleeping advocate, William Sears, suggests that co-sleeping can be done in a proper way so as to avoid casualties, like sleeping in in a queen or king-size bed so there is enough space for everyone on the bed, and keeping the baby between the mother and the guard rail, instead of placing the baby between the two parents, Yahoo Parenting has learned.
However, despite the proposed precautions, Dr. Rachel Moon, a pediatrician at Children's National Medical Center in Washington D.C. urged parents to never practice co-sleeping, Live Science has learned. "Even if you do everything right, bed-sharing increases a baby's risk," Dr. Moon said.
Some parents shared their thoughts about co-sleeping with Yahoo Parenting. One mother said, "I loved the closeness I had with co-sleeping, and I believe that because my baby could feel me and hear my heart beat, like in the womb, it helped my baby feel safe."
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