In plain words
Bed-sharing means a baby sleeps on the same surface as one or more adults or other children. Many families do it, often while nursing at night. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against bed-sharing for infants, and it is one of the factors linked to . The risk is higher with soft bedding, pillows, or a gap between the mattress and the wall. It is also higher after alcohol, sedating medicine, or smoking, and for babies born early or small. Some professionals distinguish bed-sharing from , where the baby sleeps in the parents' room on a separate, safe surface. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends room-sharing on a separate surface. The word co-sleeping is often used for both, which can blur the difference.
The deeper version
Bed-sharing is the sharing of a sleep surface with an infant. The AAP's 2022 policy statement (Moon and colleagues, Pediatrics, 2022) advises against it in all circumstances and advises room-sharing without bed-sharing for at least the first six months. Case-control studies, including the NICHD Study of Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths, show elevated risk of sudden unexpected infant death in bed-sharing infants, particularly in the early weeks and with risk factors such as parental smoking, alcohol, and soft surfaces. Most bed-sharing families do not experience an infant death, so absolute risk is low for most, but the relative risk signal is consistent. The distinction between bed-sharing and co-sleeping, used loosely in popular writing, matters for both research and counseling.
Where it comes up
- Newborn sleep and safe sleepBaby Basics
- Sharing nights: shifts and systemsSupport, Home, and Village
- Breastfeeding and sleep: feeding to sleep, night feeds, and sharing the loadFeeding Your Baby
- Setting up home for postpartumSupport, Home, and Village
- Sleep deprivation: what it does and how to survive itPostpartum: Your Body
What mothers here say about bed-sharing
No one has posted under this term yet.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics — SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations for a Safe Infant Sleeping Environment (Moon and colleagues), Pediatrics, 2022
- NICHD — Study of Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (case-control design), National Institute of Child Health and Human Development