Co-sleeping - the *real* stats?

Wow, thanks for all the replies. I've had a bit of a google and come up with not much! But I'll share what I've come up with so far -

There was an article in the NZ medical journal about what freckle mentioned - that there can be risks with tilting of the babies head causing sids too, and that might be more likely to happen on a shared bed than in a flat cot, but it was more hypothetical than based on real stats.

There was also a report of 45 SIDS deaths from 2005 of which something like 18 were in bed with someone else but of those, 6 died of an infection and 2 were cosleeping with siblings, which makes it 10 co-sleeping babies dying for no apparent reason. I don't think it gave a breakdown of how many of the other babies died of things like infections though? I can't remember. What was really apparent from that report though, was how hopeless the data is - even for those 45 babies, there was heaps of missing data on things like maternal smoking in pregnancy (I guess you could suggest that the 70% of mums who chose not to answer probably had smoked in pregnancy though?).

And it occurred to me that I've never registered whether or not I co-sleep DD, and tbh, although I have sometimes, if asked, I'd probably say no I don't because more often that not I don't. So even if they could say ok, of the SIDS deaths, x were in cots and x were co-sleeping; how will they no what proportion that is without asking every parent of a baby born this year if they co-sleep? And even then, how reliable would their responses be?

Thesaff, it also seemed that apparently it can be quite difficult to distinguish between babies where the trigger for stopping breathing was momentary covering of the airway/weight on their chest etc due to some hazard of co-sleeping vs it just happening spontaneously so often it's hard to know whether the baby would have died if in the cot or not.

I will say though, that spending the evening reading articles about SIDS is a really bad idea for a pregnant woman with a sleeping toddler in the next room! Talk about making me nervous for both of them

Personally, at this stage I'm leaning towards using a sidecar approach if we decide co-sleeping is the right option for this baby (which we won't know till we meet it). After reading the article about head tilting, I'm also thinking I'll get a stiffener for the hammock I've bought cos I imagine the same thing could happen in there.

Hi Ladies,

Interesting reading. We have co-slept with our little girl (8months) for the whole time. She just wouldn't sleep in her own bed.
I find that I am very aware of her & think I can tune in to her needs quicker. But then I am a non drinker & non smoker and have been my whole life.
Its nice to know it's more widely practised than advertised (ie we don't tell plunket).

T-Rex, another option for co-sleeping with newborns is to do something similar to what we did - Campbell slept in his carrycot at the top of the middle of the bed, so had his own sleeping space but was within my reach. So the risks of having his neck tilted were the same as if he was sleeping in his cot, and we didn't have to worry about our blankets riding up and covering his head. He still co-sleeps with us now, in between me and DH, and it works really well for us.

I really hate reading about babies dying because of drunk parents co-sleeping, it really does give co-sleeping an undeserved bad name, when so many parents do it properly and safely.

So true about babies having their own personalities! Jacob would NOT - and still won't - go to sleep in bed or cuddled up to us. DH jokes that he takes after me in that respect (I like my space in bed too )

Heh, yeah, I'm only researching options at this point, cos in the end it's up to the baby really

Turns out that once I get into the medical library at work, there are plenty of papers on it, most of which say either no increase in risk provided you do it safely, and some of which say no real information available.

So I'll do it if it seems right, but probably use the cot as a sidecar initially at least.

Ha! I still dream about a five-hour stretch too Although I do feel exausted, you must be more used to it or tougher than me

I think this website will help provide you with NZ based information and stats.
Change for our children

One interesting thing I learnt from a SUDI presentation was that it was not helpful comparing co-sleeping situations here and overseas.

It may be traditional to co-sleep in some countries - but perhaps their sleeping environment is different to ours? I know in Japan for example people frequently sleep on firm mats on the floor (not soft squidgy dust filled mattresses). Or in warmer countries you may have a slightly more open/ fresh air environment and have thin mattresses on the floor (just some examples). So co-sleeping may be safer in those environments, but when you come to NZ with our damp homes, beds high off the floor and (lets face it) old mattresses then you are really talking about a different thing all together.

I'm not comfortable with co-sleeping. Being overweight I don't meet the guidelines but when one of the guidelines is that you shouldn't be 'overtired' then for me it would not have been safe to co-sleep with my daughter until this week. I've been tired since she was born, and she is only now sleeping through. Breastfeeding has gone very well with her sleeping peacefully in her cot, on her new mattress, tucked in with feet at the bottom of the cot and using only natural fibres on the bed. And I sleep better by myself too! All good here.

Good to hear you've got a decent sleep finally 1st-time (yes, I'm sad enough to consider 5 hours decent too!). Just to teach me not to gloat about feeling exhausted, we had another 1.5 hour session in the middle of the night last night so I'm back to shattered today. Sigh.

Thanks for that link Bobchannz, off to check it out now.

http://www.changeforourchildren.co.nz/safe_start_programme/pepi-pod

Not sure why that didn't link

Forget I asked, I just looked further on the website and they have instructions!