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Should infants and adults sleep in the same bed together?

Roger W Byard
Med J Aust 2012; 196 (1): . || doi: 10.5694/mja11.11358
Published online: 16 January 2012

Health professionals should educate families about risk factors for accidental asphyxiation in shared-sleeping arrangements

Over the past two decades, great advances have been made in identification of hazardous sleeping environments for infants and young children, with significant reductions in numbers of deaths.1 However, one issue that continues to incite heated debate is whether adult caregivers should sleep on the same surface as infants,2 referred to as “shared sleeping”.


  • University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA.


Correspondence: roger.byard@sa.gov.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. Mitchell EA, Freemantle J, Young J, Byard RW. Report from a scientific forum to review the evidence underpinning the recommendations of the Australian SIDS and Kids Safe Sleeping Health Promotion Programme — October 2010. J Paediatr Child Health 2011; Nov 3 [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1754.2011.02215.x.
  • 2. Byard RW. Is co-sleeping in infancy a desirable or dangerous practice? J Paediatr Child Health 1994; 30: 198-199.
  • 3. Blair PS, Fleming PJ, Smith IJ, et al; CESDI SUDI research group. Babies sleeping with parents: case–control study of factors influencing the risk of the sudden infant death syndrome. BMJ 1999; 319: 1457-1462.
  • 4. Blair PS, Ward-Platt M, Smith IJ, Fleming PJ; CESDI SUDI Research Group. Sudden infant death syndrome and the time of death: factors associated with night-time and day-time deaths. Int J Epidemiol 2006; 35: 1563-1569.
  • 5. Byard RW, Elliott J, Vink R. Infant gender, cosleeping and sudden death. J Paediatr Child Health 2011; Nov 3 [Epub ahead of print]. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1754.2011.02226.x.
  • 6. Byard RW. Sudden death in the young. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
  • 7. Blair PS, Sidebotham P, Berry PJ, et al. Major epidemiological changes in sudden infant death syndrome: a 20-year population-based study in the UK. Lancet 2006; 367: 314-319.
  • 8. Bourne AJ, Beal SM, Byard RW. Bed sharing and sudden infant death syndrome [letter]. BMJ 1994; 308: 537-538.
  • 9. Byard RW, Burnell RH. Apparent life threatening events, and infant holding practices. Arch Dis Child 1995; 73: 502-504.
  • 10. Blair PS, Sidebotham P, Evason-Coombe C, et al. Hazardous cosleeping environments and risk factors amenable to change: case–control study of SIDS in south west England. BMJ 2009; 339: b3666. doi: 10.1136/bmj.b3666.
  • 11. Combrinck M, Byard RW. Infant asphyxia, soft mattresses and the “trough” effect. Am J Forensic Med Pathol 2011; Aug 3 [Epub ahead of print].

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