Where should babies sleepalone or with parents?

There is strong epidemiological evidence on how we should place infants for sleep to reduce the risk of cot death but conflicting evidence as to where the infant should sleep. In one of the first major epidemiological studies to be carried out after the fall in rates of cot death, Blair et al (p 1457) found a particularly high risk associated with infants who shared a sofa with an adult. Infants sharing the same room as the parents but not the bed, the commonest practice, was associated with a reduced risk, while bed sharing was associated with an increased risk for some groups under some circumstances, especially when the parents smoked.

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Relevant Article

Babies sleeping with parents: case-control study of factors influencing the risk of the sudden infant death syndrome • Commentary: Cot deaththe story so far

Peter S Blair, Peter J Fleming, Iain J Smith, Martin Ward Platt, Jeanine Young, Pam Nadin, P J Berry, Jean Golding, the CESDI SUDI research group, and Ed Mitchell
BMJ 1999 319: 1457-1462. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]