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The Risk of Overlying Babies While CosleepingDo Bedsharing Parents Really Smother Their Infants?
The safety of cosleeping is a hot-button topic. One of the most common objections is that mothers will roll on their babies and suffocate them. What are the facts?
While cosleeping has proven its worth in fostering maternal-infant attachment, promoting extended breastfeeding and infant weight gain and reducing the risk of SIDS, the practice still raises some concerns. A number of epidemiological studies have demonstrated that some cases of cosleeping do result in overlying. The questions that remain are these: in what circumstances did the overlying occur, and are these circumstances avoidable? Overlying Does Occur in Unsafe Cosleeping SituationsEpidemiological studies, such as the data collected in the CPSC report on cosleeping, have demonstrated that overlying does occur when the sleeping situation is unsafe. As a result of these studies, it is recommended that parents do not bedshare if:
It is also not advisable to sleep an infant next to a toddler. Small children sleep heavily and tend to lack spatial acuity, which is why toddlers fall out of bed more often than adults. As a result, a sleeping toddler is far more likely to smother a baby than an adult. In situations where the risk factors make bedsharing unsafe, parents can still safely cosleep by using a cosleeping device, or sleeping the baby in a crib, bassinet or hammock close to the bed. Overlying Is Unlikely to Occur in Safe Cosleeping SituationsEpidemiological studies on cosleeping, which examine fatal incidents rather than looking at population data as a whole, have thus far largely failed to distinguish between safe and unsafe cosleeping situations. James McKenna, founder of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at Notre-Dame, noted in his observations of hundreds of mother-baby sleeping pairs that breastfeeding mothers in particular were highly attuned to their babies' needs. Mother and baby tended to sleep facing each other, with the baby oriented to the mother's breasts. Moreover, nearly all mothers unconsciously slept in the same protective pose – curled around the baby, in such a way that the position of the elbows and knees made accidental overlying almost impossible. Nor was the shared sleep a passive act – mothers and babies were frequently "checking in" by touch to make sure the other was present and breathing. In other words, normal mothers simply do not "drop off" into a state of heavy, unwakable sleep. The maternal instinct is simply too strong. Further, the sense of spatial awareness which prevents adults from falling out of bed in their sleep helps to prevent overlying. Just as normal adults can sense the edge of the bed in their sleep, they can sense the presence of a warm, breathing baby. Anthropologist Katherine Dettwyler concurs: “The average, typical parent sleeping on a good mattress will be very aware and will not roll over on (her infant).” (1) McKenna attributes the myth that overlying is common to cultural prejudice, stemming from the deliberate smothering of infants by babies in the Middle Ages. This form of infanticide, practiced by overworked mothers of many, resulted in priests banning babies from the family bed. (2) Granju, Katie Allison, "The Family Bed", sourced 1 October 2008. McKenna, James J, "Babies Need Their Mothers Beside Them" (1996), sourced 30 September 2008.
The copyright of the article The Risk of Overlying Babies While Cosleeping in Infant & Toddler Health is owned by Sarah Tennant. Permission to republish The Risk of Overlying Babies While Cosleeping in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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