Cobedding Twins and Higher-Order Multiples in a Hospital Setting

Cobedding and Recovery Time After Heel Lance in Preterm Twins: Results of a Randomized Trial

“…To date, cobedding has not been associated with any increased risk related to temperature instability, respiratory compromise, infection, or misidentification, 19 and our findings add to the current body of evidence related to the safety of cobedding of preterm twins in the NICU setting. Our study is the first to examine the effect of cobedding during a tissue-breaking procedure and no adverse effects were reported for the twin undergoing the heel lance or for the cotwin exposed to their twin' s procedure.…”

“…Given that the practice of cobedding simulates numerous aspects of environmental and maternal context (proximity, tactile, olfactory, auditory, and memory) that have been shown to provide comfort to newborns, 8,9,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] it was reasonable to propose that contact with or the presence of a twin who has shared the same uterine space since conception would have a similar comforting effect. Therefore, we conducted a randomized controlled intervention trial to determine the efficacy of cobedding preterm twins during a tissue breaking procedure (heel lance) in the NICU.…”

The prevalence of cobedding and SIDS-related child care practices in twins

“…Some cobedding configurations would make it impossible for the feet to be placed against the foot of the cot, a practice which while not proven to be an effective SIDS deterrent, makes it possibly less likely for the infant's face to become covered by the bedding. A review of the literature around cobedding in US hospitals was published by Tomashek and Wallman in 2007 [35]. They concluded that the risks and benefits of the practice have not been established, and that most studies are limited by small sample sizes.…”

“…The practice of sleeping twins together in the same bed (cobedding) has been poorly studied and the risks or benefits of doing so are not known [10,26,35]. However, bed sharing with a parent has been established as a risk factor for SIDS, particularly when the mother has smoked in pregnancy [23].…”

Sleeping Arrangements in Families With Twins

“…Reported benefits have not been well substantiated. Available evidence is generally limited by small sample sizes and lack of scientifically rigorous study designs, resulting in an inability to strongly endorse or reject the practice of cobedding for multiple birth infants (4,5). …”