Sharing bed with toddler won't harm

Allowing your toddler to share your bed does not lead to behavioural or learning problems down the road.

The American Academy of Pediatrics currently advises against bed-sharing during the first year of life because of its association with SIDS [sudden infant death syndrome]. However, very little research has investigated the potential developmental consequences of bed-sharing during toddlerhood.

Researchers studied 944 low-income families who had at least one child under the age of 1 at the start of the study in America. Participants included roughly equal number of boys and girls. The authors visited each family as the children turned 1, 2 and 3, at which point the mothers provided information on their child's health, parenting routines and sleeping arrangements. At age 5, all of the children underwent cognitive and behavioural testing, with a focus on math and literacy skill evaluations along with an assessment of the hyperactivity levels and social skills.

After controlling for a host of factors (including child gender, birth weight, ethnicity, economic status and maternal education), the researchers found no link between toddlers who bed-shared and the onset of either cognitive or behavioural problems by the age of 5. The findings suggest that bed-sharing is not necessarily a bad idea for toddlers.

The researchers advise that parents should make decisions about sleeping arrangements based on their specific family circumstances, with the goal of facilitating the best possible sleep for their children. Each family should work out what's best for them, in terms of what works best for their child and their child's sleep on a day-to-day basis. It is not so much bed-sharing itself, but rather how exactly parents go about it. Some children fall asleep in their parents' bed on their own, and then their parents get into bed later. Others fall asleep with their parents in bed at the time. Toddlers who fall asleep on their own tend to sleep more restively and good quality sleep does have an impact on behavioral and cognitive issues down the line.

Parents, however, should not interpret the findings as encouragement to begin bed-sharing while children are still infants, the researchers suggested. It's still important to emphasise the increased risk for SIDS before 1 year of age in terms of bed-sharing.