Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, including details on sids, causes, prevention, statistics.

Bed-sharing in the first four months of life: a risk factor for sudden infant death.

Ruys JH, de Jonge GA, Brand R, Engelberts AC, Semmekrot BA

Leiden University Medical Center, Reviuslaan 38, 2343 JR Oegstgeest, The Netherlands. jruys@hccnet.nl

AIM: To investigate the risk of sudden infant death in the Netherlands during bed-sharing in the first half year of life and the protective effect of breastfeeding on it. METHODS: During a 10-year period between September 1996 and September 2006 nationwide, 213 cot deaths were investigated. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Of 138 cot deaths of less than 6 months of age, 36 (26%) bed-shared. In a reference group of 1628 babies from infant welfare centres only 9.4% were bed-sharing in the night prior to the interview. After correction for smoking of one or both parents the odds ratio for cot death during bed-sharing with parents decreased with age from 9.1 (CI 4.2-19.4) at 1 month, to 4.0 (CI 2.3-6.7) at 2 months, to 1.7 (CI 0.9-3.4) at 3 months and to 1.3 (CI 1.0-1.6) at 4 through 5 months of age. The excess risk (OR > 1) associated with bed-sharing is itself not significantly influenced by the presence or absence of breastfeeding. CONCLUSION: Bed-sharing is a serious risk factor for sudden infant death for all babies of less than 4 months of age. From 4 months onwards bed-sharing did not contribute significantly to the risk of cot death anymore in our study.

Published 20 September 2007 in Acta Paediatr, 96(10): 1399-403.
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