Just How Dangerous is Cosleeping?
Filed under: Baby Health, Baby Safety, Baby Sleeping, Parenting
You likely know a parent or two that ardently sticks up for cosleeping, regardless of CPSC warnings. Much like the bonding approach through baby-wearing, cosleeping makes breastfeeding easier for the mother, the mother gets closer to her baby, the parent and child gradually assume the same sleep cycle, and the baby falls asleep quicker. Yet, even with these supposed benefits, CPSC advises against cosleeping.
Simple standards and guidelines don’t quite hit as close to home as stories and experiences. A piece in South Carolina newspaper The State goes into detail about the hazards of cosleeping, particularly the innate ease at which a parent or older child can suffocate a baby.
How unsafe is a baby when surrounded by heavier people in an adult bed? Essentially, an arm or a leg becomes a suffocation hazard, extending over the baby and staying in place. Because infants have limited motor skills, pushing off a heavier person is impossible.
At the same time, co-sleeping, or use of a family bed, may be a greater cause of sudden infant death than previously believed. A baby who dies in a family bed is labeled with condition “Sudden Unexpected Infant Death Syndrome – Unsafe Sleeping Conditions,” which can also include letting a child sleep on a couch or armchair, in a crib with comforters or pillows, or in the same space with a dog.
In the past, at least in this area of South Carolina, infant deaths resulting from sleeping were labeled SIDS, but this condition indicates that the child was placed in a safe area. In order to now determine the cause of death, a coroner goes to the caregiver’s house and asks the individual to reenact the sleeping situation with a doll.
Cosleeping, however, isn’t a radical parenting approach, like baby-wearing; rather, it has been in practice with families for many years, going under other names. That doesn’t mean that it’s safe. Just like the playgrounds of metal equipment and blacktop of many adults’ childhoods, not all past situations and practices are safe for children; what was once the norm is now a hazard. Gary Watts, the Richland coroner quoted in the State, piece explained:
“My grandmother did it, my mother did it, and I know I did it. But it’s unsafe. At some point, you have to realize it’s a danger to the infant. If you want to have a child in the room – put him in a bassinet beside your bed.”