Does co-sleeping reduce the risk of cot death (SIDS)?
No hard and fast evidence proves that sleeping with your baby reduces the risk of cot death or, to use the medical term, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Some research suggests that co-sleeping may reduce the risk of cot death for the following reasons: 1. Small babies cannot control their bodily temperature easily. Co-sleeping allows mother and baby to act as a thermostatic unit – when the baby heats up, the mother cools down, bringing her baby’s temperature down with hers. 2. Many small babies have breathing pauses (apneoa). Co-sleeping allows you to be aware of these pauses, even in your sleep. You move or make sounds that bring your baby to a brief arousal so that he can tune into your breathing and join in again at the same pace, without waking fully. However, studies show that the risk of cot death increases when one or both co-sleeping parents is drunk, has taken drugs, is a smoker or is obese. One study published in The Lancet in 2004 also suggests that the risk of cot deat
