Sharing a bed with your infant - co-sleeping - is a controversial practice in the United States. Supporters of co-sleeping promote the following benefits:

• makes nighttime breastfeeding more convenient
• helps babies fall asleep more easily during their first few months and when they wake up in the middle of the night
• helps babies get more nighttime sleep overall because they awaken more frequently with shorter duration of feeds
• helps parents who are separated from their babies during the day make up for lost time

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), on the other hand, believe the risks of co-sleeping outweigh the benefits. Co-sleeping, they say, puts babies at risk of suffocation and strangulation. The CPSC reported that, from January 1990 to December 1997, at least 515 infants and toddlers under 2 years of age died as a result of sleeping in adult beds. 121 of the deaths were caused by a parent, caregiver, or sibling rolling on top of or against the baby, and more than 75% of the deaths involved infants under three months old. The CPSC also advises that adult beds contain hidden hazards for babies, including:

• suffocation if an infant gets wedged between a mattress and headboard or wall
• suffocation resulting from a baby being face-down on a waterbed, a regular mattress, or on soft bedding
• strangulation in a bed frame that's large enough for an infant's body to pass through but small enough to trap the baby's head

Additionally, the AAP reports that, under certain conditions, co-sleeping may increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), especially if one or both parents smoke. Beyond the potential safety risks, cosleeping trains infants to associate sleep with being close to a parent in the parent's bed, which may become a problem at nap time or when the infant needs to go to sleep before the parent is ready. And in co-sleeping arrangements, the parents themselves might not get the sleep they need. If you still believe co-sleeping is right for your family, then educate yourself at Pregnancy & Baby:

• Safe co-sleeping
• Sleeping arrangements: co-sleeping