Hello
We are expecting our first child in December. Not sure yet if AP is right for us, but I have been lurking this board A LOT lately. I have seen a lot of people say that it is recommended that you co-sleep with your child up to 6 months because of reduced SIDS risk? I do understand the difference between co-sleeping in general and bed sharing, and if anything we will only co-sleep with baby in a pnp or something.
So my question is (and forgive me, I did try to find the answer by googling, but I was having no such luck) why is co-sleeping a way to reduce the risk of SIDS?
I've heard a couple of different things, one being that it helps the baby create a normal breathing pattern...otherwise I just thought maybe that way you are close if the baby is having problems breathing or something?
Maybe I should also add that the baby's crib would only be maybe 20 feet away in an adjacent room, with no door separating (our house has a weird setup). Anyway, any insight on this would be greatly appreciated, as we haven't decided for sure whether to have baby closer to us in the beginning or not. Thanks!
Re: Reducing SIDS Risk?
Babies sleeping in a separate room also tend to sleep more deeply, to a unnatural extent, and have more trouble rousing themselves from sleep when they need to, either to eat or to scooch away from danger, etc.
If you would like to learn more about this, there are very good articles and other publications available written by Dr. James Mckenna, who runs the Mother Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at Notre Dame. Google him, and you'll find lots of great research on this and other sleep questions.
SIDS was actually originally called crib death, because it only happened to babies in cribs, until the manufacturers protested and they changed the name.
In other countries, where bed sharing is the norm, they don't have SIDS.
Being close to mom (or dad) reminds the baby's bodily functions to continue to operate effectively - stabilizing their breathing, heart rate, temperature, etc.
We studied it a lot in my child psychology course in college; I wish I could remember sources so I could direct you to them! All my notes/texts are packed away in a box somewhere in my parents' house.