New Study Finds Link to SIDS

A new study through the University of Bristol and the University of Warwick reports that half of cot or crib deaths by infants happen during a period of time slept with a parent, also known as co-sleeping. An additional factor suggests that these deaths are closely linked with the adult cohabiting with the infant while under the influence of alcohol or drugs of some kind.

Studying a four-year span in the South West, researchers found that the bulk of sudden deaths in newborn cases transpired during a co-sleeping situation, such as on a couch.

Since the 1990’s, SIDS health knowledge studies have aided better awareness and helped to lower the number of infant deaths. Health authorities, however, state there is still much more work to be done to raise awareness across cultural and social lines to lower the numbers even more.

Researchers within the new study entertained the possibility of a link between cot death and deprivation among social classes by composing a control group of “high risk” mothers, meaning socially-challenged, young smokers, in addition to a separate randomly picked control group.

Any deaths that occurred during the study were investigated thoroughly and checked against all information regarding drug and alcohol usage by the parents.

Fifty-four percent of the 80 reported deaths during the study happened during a period of cohabitation with a parent, against the twenty percent rate of co-sleeping within both control groups.

Those parents whom consumed drug or alcohol during the cohabitation periods encompassed thirty-one percent, in comparison with three percent within the random control group, while sudden deaths of infants occurring on a sofa beside a parent hit seventeen percent compared to one per cent in the random group, according to the study.

A previous study, found on bmj.com, stated that the best place for safety during infant sleep within the 1st six months was on a cot beside their parent’s bed.

Since 1969, when Sudden Infant Death Syndrome was distinguished as a medical reality, many safety controls have been recommended for new parents, including placing newborns on their backs, and setting them in a “feet to foot” position at the bottom of a cot or bassinet.  Feet-to-foot means that the baby’s feet are at the bottom of the crib, the blanket is no higher than the baby’s chest, and the blanket is tucked in around the crib mattress.

“People understand the implications of drinking and driving and the vast majority follow that advice. So we want parents, if they’ve had a drink or taken drugs, not to co-sleep with their baby,” states Peter Fleming, lead author of the new study and professor of infant health and development physiology at the University of Bristol.

“It is really important that parents should not fall asleep with their baby on a sofa as it is very, very dangerous,” he said. “It is 25 times more risky than having a baby in bed with you. After parents have fed a baby it is really important they put them back in their cot,” adds Professor Fleming.