Can Parents Sleep Safely With Infants?

May 14 -- Many mothers appreciate the comfort and convenience of having their crying and nursing baby sleep beside them in bed; but the Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a warning to parents urging them to keep sleeping babies in cribs.

Over the past three years, at least 180 babies died after getting trapped or suffocated while sleeping in the same beds as their parents, the CPSC says in a public awareness campaign launched earlier this month. The commission warns parents to place children under age 2 in a crib when they are sleeping.

Yet at least a few leading pediatricians, including Dr. Bob Sears, disagree.

While not discounting the CPSC statistics, Sears insists that it is far safer for babies to sleep with their parents than not to, and points out that the incidence of crib-related Sudden Infant Death Syndrome is far higher than the infant deaths related to sleeping with parents. SIDS results in 2,500 deaths per year.

Parents should do whatever they can to prevent those 60 adult bed-related deaths a year, but one way is to simply learn how to sleep with their babies the safe way, Sears said.

"Those deaths occur only if proper precautions aren't followed," Sears told Good Morning America. "If you follow them, then the child's chances of dying are far lower than from SIDS."

Babies Get Trapped in Bedding, Frames

There are no statistics comparing the number of SIDS deaths that occurred in bed vs. the number that occurred in the crib. Until those statistics are known, the CPSC should not tell parents not to sleep with their babies, Sears said.

The incidents of infants dying while "co-sleeping" with adults, as documented by the CPSC, include the following: children getting trapped between the bed and the wall, or the bed and another object; entrapment that involves footboards or bed frames; soft bedding-related hazards, such as suffocation on a pillow; falls, sometimes into a pile of clothing or plastic, resulting in suffocation; a child or adult accidentally lying on top of the baby.