The prevalence and characteristics associated with parent-infant bed-sharing in England.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the characteristics of parent-infant bed-sharing prevalence in England.


METHODS
Data on night-time sleeping practices from a two year, local, longitudinal study and a three-year, national, cross-sectional study were obtained. A total of 261 infants in North Tees were followed up at 1 and 3 months of age, as were 1095 infants aged 1 week to 1 year from five English health regions.


RESULTS
Data from both studies found that almost half of all neonates bed-shared at some time with their parents (local = 47%, 95% CI 41 to 54; national = 46%, 95% CI 34 to 58), and on any one night in the first month over a quarter of parents slept with their baby (local = 27%, 95% CI 22 to 33; national = 30%, 95% CI 20 to 42). Bed-sharing was not related to younger mothers, single mothers, or larger families, and was not more common in the colder months, at weekends, or among the more socially deprived families; in fact bed-sharing was more common among the least deprived in the first months of life. Breast feeding was strongly associated with bed-sharing, both at birth and at 3 months. Bed-sharing prevalence was uniform with infant age from 3 to 12 months; on any one night over a fifth of parents (national = 21%, 95% CI 18 to 24) slept with their infants.


CONCLUSIONS
Bed-sharing is a relatively common practice in England, not specific to class, but strongly related to breast feeding.
Blair
P S
PS
FSID Research Department, Division of Child Health, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. p.s.blair@bris.ac.uk
Ball
H L
HL
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001513:Beds / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001942:Breast Feeding; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D015995:Prevalence; D012621:Seasons; D012890:Sleep; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors