Bed-sharing among six-month-old infants in western Sweden.
OBJECTIVE
In spite of several reports of an increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in connection with bed-sharing, it is not an uncommon practice. The aim of this study was to examine bed-sharing at 6 months of age and the factors that are associated with bed-sharing.


METHODS
Our cohort comprised 8176 randomly chosen families. At 6 month of age, the families received an invitation to the study, with a questionnaire, which was completed by 5605 families (response rate 68.5%).


RESULTS
Of the families, 19.8% bed-shared. In the multivariate analysis, we found a correlation between breast-feeding and bed-sharing (breast-feeding at 6 months: OR 1.94; 95% CI 1.56, 2.41). Moreover, we found an association with 3+ nightly awakenings at 6 months (2.70; 2.20, 3.32). It was more common to share a bed if the parent was single (2.04; 1.19, 3.51) and less common if the infant was bottle-fed in the first week (0.70; 0.54, 0.90). Never using a pacifier was associated with a higher frequency of bed-sharing.


CONCLUSIONS
We found a correlation between breast-feeding and bed-sharing as well as between sleeping problems and a single parent. A lower percentage of infants sleeping in the parental bed were seen in association with formula feeding in the first week after birth.
Möllborg
P
P
Uddevalla Hospital, Sweden. per.mollborg@vgregion.se
Wennergren
G
G
Norvenius
S G
SG
Alm
B
B
D001513:Beds / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D013548:Sweden