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Family Bedroom Reduces SIDS Rates

From: C-reuters@clari.net (Reuters)
Subject: Sharing bedroom, not bed, reduces cot deaths-study
Organization: Copyright 1996 by Reuters
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 2:50:06 PST

Auckland professor Ed Mitchell said the study, presented to the Australian Perinatal Conference on Wednesday, showed sharing a bedroom with parents reduced babies' risk of SIDS to one-third that of babies sleeping alone in a separate room.

``One of the reasons we think this data is particularly important is it could be very easy behaviour for mothers to change, that is to take the cot from a separate bedroom into her bedroom,'' he told Reuters.

``Because 50 percent of babies in New Zealand currently sleep in a separate room, (changing this behaviour) could have a profound impact on mortality rates,'' he said.

Mitchell said his study, for the New Zealand Cot Death Study Group, had examined 393 SIDS cases over three years compared with a control group of almost 1600 infants.

While it was not able to clearly show why sharing parents' bedrooms brought benefits, Mitchell said sharing may allow parents to more easily monitor the temperature of the room to ensure the baby did not get too hot or cold.

Mitchell said his study had also confirmed previous research on the heightened risks of sharing a bed with a baby, which researchers believed may result in overheating, airway obstruction and increase in carbon dioxide.

This did not preclude taking infants to bed to comfort or breastfeed, but when parents went to sleep, the baby should be returned to the cot beside the bed, he said.

Mitchell said the study also confirmed the added risks of SIDS for babies whose mothers smoked. He believed the damage was inflicted when the baby was in the womb.

Mitchell said the peak risk period of SIDS for an infant was two to four months, with 80 percent of cases occurring in the first six months.