A study has revealed that the main cause of cots deaths is the baby sleeping with their parents, with the situation exacerbated by the adults drinking or taking drugs.
A study was carried out over four years in the South West, which revealed that babies from birth to two years old were more likely to suffer from unexpected infant death when asleep with a parent – often on the couch.
Improved health awareness campaigns have helped to significantly decrease the number of cot deaths since the early 1990s. However experts suggest a lot more needs to be done to ensure all groups in society are aware of the risks.
The research team at Bristol and Warwick universities investigated the likeliness of a link between infant death and socially deprived groups.
The results revealed that 54 percent of unexpected deaths in the socially deprived group happened whilst co-sleeping, compared to the control group where the result was just 20 per cent.
Experts suggest that the increased risk within this group stems from the parents indulging in excess alcohol or drug use before sleeping.
The study advised that the safest place for a baby to sleep during the first six months was in a cot, next to their parent’s bed.
Peter Fleming, a professor of infant health and development physiology at the University of Bristol and the head author of the report, said, “People understand the implications of drinking and driving and the vast majority follow that advice. So we want parents, if they’ve had a drink or taken drugs, not to co-sleep with their baby.”
Professor Fleming added that it was common for parents to think it was safer to feed their babies in the middle of the night on a chair or sofa instead of in bed, when actually the opposite is true.
“It is really important that parents should not fall asleep with their baby on a sofa as it is very, very dangerous,” he said. “It is 25 times more risky than having a baby in bed with you. After parents have fed a baby it is really important they put them back in their cot.”
Edwin Mitchell, a professor of child health research at the University of Auckland, added, “Presumably, alcohol and drugs impair the arousal of the adult co-sleeper. However, the dangers of this combination of behaviours are, for the first time, convincingly shown in this study.”
Professor Mitchell said that cot death could easily be avoided. “It is important to monitor parents’ knowledge and infant care practices to inform health education and promotion,” he said.
