The American Academy of Pediatrics has been in a long-running dispute with proponents that assert the supposed advantages of bed sharing and other controversial sleeping practices for infants. Recently, A new study suggesting that an innocent sleeping on the sofa poses a significant risk of sleep-related infant death. According to the AAP, the safest way for a baby to sleep is in the same room as the people taking care of it, but not in the same bed since a recent study conducted by the organization suggests that one of the greatest factors that affects sleep-related infant death is bed-sharing.
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS, is described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as the sudden, unexplained death of a child that is under one year of age. Is said to be the leading cause of infant death for children in this age group. SIDS is usually link to an unsafe sleeping environment, and this led researchers to conduct the study analyzing incidences of infant deaths between 2004 and 2012 based on where they were sleeping at that time. The data used in the study was gathered from the National Center for the Review and Prevention of Child Case Reporting System.
The data revealed that out of more than 9,000 sleep-related infant deaths, nearly 13% occurred while the infants were sleeping on sofas, and 72% of these cases happened to children aged three months and below. Researchers say that infants who die in their sleep under these circumstances are more likely to have been sharing the sofa with someone else. Additionally, statistics show that most of these babies were found to be the session undersides or face-down on the sofa.
Other risk factors uncovered by the researchers during the study is that it is highly likely that infants who suffer from SIDS have mothers who smoked during pregnancy. A woman's exposure to tobacco during or after her pregnancy increases her child's tendency for SIDS after birth.