A Mom Warns Against Putting Babies In Bed With You (1279 hits)

Many parents do it. It can add to bonding time, help baby sleep and even add ease to breastfeeding. But sometimes, the unthinkable happens, and the baby in bed with mom and dad dies.

For Angela, who asked that her last name not be used, the tragedy was something that has to be shared in order to help other parents avoid her and husband Ryan’s pain on losing 5-month-old Everett, Opposing Views reports:

“This will be the hardest thing for me to write in my life,” Angela wrote in her social media post, reported WOOD-TV. “But if it saves even one life, it is worth it.”

According to Kid’s Health, while there may be benefits to bed-sharing, the risks outweigh them:

Studies have found that bed-sharing is the most common cause of deaths in babies, especially those 3 months and younger.

The Telegraph reports that just days ago, newly published documents reveal another infant, this one three weeks old, died while bed-sharing in March. This prompted renewed warnings about the practice:

The latest reported figures show 258 children a year under the age of one, equivalent to five babies a week, die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). It is thought that in about half of those cases, the baby had been sleeping in an unsafe place.

According to ABC 8 New, the police are investigating and awaiting a toxicology report to confirm Everett died while co-sleeping with his mother.