In plain words
Bedsharing is the same practice as : a baby sleeping on the same surface as an adult or sibling. The word appears in breastfeeding and sleep articles, where the two main professional bodies in the United States take different positions. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises against bedsharing in all circumstances. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine recognizes that many breastfeeding families bedshare, and recommends counseling about how to lower the risks rather than a blanket rule. The difference lies in how each group weighs infant risk against the fact that some families bedshare anyway. Counseling focuses on factors that change the risk, such as smoking, alcohol, soft bedding, and the sleep surface. For the basics, see the entry for bed-sharing.
The deeper version
Bedsharing and bed-sharing describe the same practice and draw on the same outcome data. This entry records the breastfeeding-medicine framing. The AAP's 2022 policy (Moon and colleagues, Pediatrics, 2022) recommends against bedsharing in all circumstances, including during breastfeeding, on the basis of case-control evidence that the risk of is elevated, especially in the first months. The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine's clinical protocol recognizes that bedsharing occurs among many breastfeeding dyads and holds that some conditions, such as a firm surface, no alcohol or sedating medication, nonsmoking parents, and a baby placed on the back, are associated with lower risk. Critics of the ABM approach argue that risk-reduction counseling can imply a safety the data do not support. The unresolved question is whether risk-minimization reduces overall harm or simply shifts it.
Where it comes up
- Breastfeeding and sleep: feeding to sleep, night feeds, and sharing the loadFeeding Your Baby
- Newborn sleep and safe sleepBaby Basics
- Sharing nights: shifts and systemsSupport, Home, and Village
- How breastfeeding works: supply and demandFeeding Your Baby
What mothers here say about bedsharing
No one has posted under this term yet.
Sources
- American Academy of Pediatrics — SIDS and Other Sleep-Related Infant Deaths: Updated 2022 Recommendations (Moon and colleagues), Pediatrics, 2022
- Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine — Clinical protocol on bedsharing and breastfeeding