Half of cot deaths linked to bed-sharing

Half of all cot deaths can be linked to babies sharing a bed with their parents, studies have found.

The research also concludes parents are sceptical about the risk, and that many cot deaths can be linked to parents who have been taking drink or drugs.

Researchers from Bristol University found bed-sharing was a factor in more than 50 per cent of cot deaths, when they studied all unexpected infant deaths, from birth to two years, in the south-west of England over a three year period.

In a poll by the UK's Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths (FSID), a quarter of the 500 mothers asked said they did not think bed-sharing with their baby put the child at undue risk.

Many of the deaths had occurred when parents slept with their child on a sofa, and also when parents had taken drink or drugs before going to bed.

The findings, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) today said: 'The median age at death (66 days) was more than three weeks less than in a study in the same region a decade earlier. Of the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) infants, 54 per cent died while co-sleeping compared with 20 per cent among both control groups.

'Much of this excess may be explained by a significant multivariable interaction between co-sleeping and recent parental use of alcohol or drugs (31 per cent vs three per cent random controls) and the increased proportion of SIDS infants who had co-slept on a sofa (17 per cent vs one per cent).

'Many of the SIDS infants had co-slept in a hazardous environment. The major influences on risk, regardless of markers for socioeconomic deprivation, are amenable to change and specific advice needs to be given, particularly on use of alcohol or drugs before co-sleeping and co-sleeping on a sofa.'