Babies That Sleep with Parents at Higher Risk of Cot Death: Researchers.

Newborns that sleep in parents' bed have higher chances of dying from sudden infant death syndrome, warns a study.

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDs) also known as crib death is the unexplained death of  a baby not suffering from any medical condition. In the U.S., over 2,500 children die from SIDs every year, according to the Kids Health. Org.  Recently, health experts discovered the risk rates for sudden death increases for babies that sleep in the same bed with parents. They looked at 8,207 deaths of children aged below one and found 69 percent of these infants shared a bed with parents at the time of death.

The researchers noted younger infants particularly those aged about four months slept with their parents than one-year olds.

"The predominant risk factor for younger infants up to three months of age is bed-sharing, whereas rolling to prone, with objects in the sleep area, is the predominant risk factor for older infants four months to 364 days," said Jeffrey Colvin, study author and  doctor at the Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinic in Kansas City, reports the CBC.CA.

"Parents should be warned about the dangers of bed-sharing, particularly in 0- to three-month-old infants," he adds.

Time and again, parents and care-givers are instructed to baby-proof the sleep area by keeping away toys and objects that can injure or suffocate young babies. Those who drink, smoke or take drugs are strictly advised to end their habits and take extra precautions to ensure children are safe while sleeping. Past studies suggest infants that sleep with parents, who do not smoke are drink,  are five times at increased risk of SIDs than those babies who sleep in cribs.

The Canadian Pediatric Society also renewed its sleep safety recommendations for children and babies in February.

"The recommended practice of independent sleeping will likely continue to be the preferred sleeping arrangement for infants in Canada, but a significant proportion of families will still elect to sleep together. The risk of suffocation and entrapment in adult beds or unsafe cribs will need to be addressed for both practices to achieve any reduction in this devastating adverse event," wrote the officials from the society in a statement, reports the CBC.CA.

More information is available online in the Journal Pediatrics