Mother–Infant Co-Sleeping and Maternally Reported Infant Breathing Distress in the UK Millennium Cohort

Abstract

Mother–infant co-sleeping or bed sharing is discouraged by health organisations due to evidence that it is associated with unexplained sudden infant death. On the other hand, there is evidence that it should theoretically be beneficial for infants. One line of this evidence concerns breathing regulation, which at night is influenced by the rocking movement of the mother’s chest as she breathes. Here, the hypothesis that mother–infant co-sleeping will be associated with a lower probability of infant breathing distress is tested in the UK Millennium Cohort Study (n = 18,552 infants). Maternal, infant, family, and socio-economic covariates were included in logistic regression analysis, and in a machine learning algorithm (Random Forest) to make full use of the number of variables available in the birth cohort study data. Results from logistic regression analysis showed that co-sleeping was associated with a reduced risk of breathing difficulties (OR = 0.69, p = 0.027). The Random Forest algorithm placed high importance on socio-economic aspects of infant environment, and indicated that a number of maternal, child, and environmental variables predicted breathing distress. Co-sleeping by itself was not high in the Random Forest variable importance ranking. Together, the results suggest that co-sleeping may be associated with a modest reduction in risk of infant breathing difficulties.

Spectrum of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive determinants of child undernutrition: a multisectoral cross-sectional study in rural Mozambique

“…A typical example of those efforts is to avoid cosleeping on sofa or couch which increases the likelihood of child’s breathing regulation. 52 The enumerators employed for this survey rarely observed sofa and couch during household visits. Thus, the risks of SUDI to be derived from mother–infant cosleeping in the two districts should be quite limited.…”

Neurobiology of Parental Regulation of the Infant and Its Disruption by Trauma Within Attachment

“…For example, young children can maintain homeostasis of vital functions, such as heart rate and respiration, but the regulatory role of parental care was shown through experiments comparing infants alone v. engaged in parental contact via somatosensory (temperature, touch), olfactory (caregiver odor), visual (face), and auditory (voice) stimulation ( Kommers et al, 2019 ; Suga et al, 2019 ; Buhler-Wassmann and Hibel, 2021 ; Ionio et al, 2021 ). This regulation is also seen in the infant’s co-sleep with the parent, producing improved sleep compared to when the infants sleep alone ( Mosko et al, 1997 ; Richard and Mosko, 2004 ; Waynforth, 2020 ; Yoshida and Funato, 2021 ).…”

Population-Based Birth Cohort Studies in Epidemiology

“…The other two papers analyzed ad hoc nationwide prospective birth cohorts set in Japan (Japan Environment and Children’s Study [ 22 ]) and the UK (UK Millennium Cohort Study [ 23 ]). Both the topics covered in these studies (co-sleeping associated with less breathing difficulties and child development in relation to pet ownership at an early age) could not be assessed through retrospective real word data.…”

“…The recorded information is related to pregnant women who compiled the self-administered questionnaire between January 2011 and March 2014. Waynforth et al used data drawn from the UK Millennium Cohort Study which recorded self-reported information from the mothers of 18,552 infants born from September 2000 to August 2001 in the UK [ 23 ].…”