Parents warned about sleeping with infants

County statistics released Wednesday show that 44 infants died after they slept next to an adult in 2006, a 76% increase over the previous year. It was the county's highest number of deaths ever associated with "co-sleeping," the practice of sleeping in the same bed, couch or chair with an infant.

"These are tiny infants, who, someone, perhaps well-intentioned, took to bed with them . . . and they wake up and the child is not breathing," said Deanne Tilton Durfee, director of the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.

"We know the value of holding your child, cuddling your child, loving your child. But if you take the baby to bed with you and fall asleep, you are committing a potentially lethal act," she said.

The pronouncement was criticized by some who have promoted the benefits of parents sharing their bed with infant children, and say it's easier to breast-feed and console a crying infant.

"New parents have to do what they have to do to get to sleep," said Karen Zeretzke, who has been a longtime leader with La Leche League International, which provides information and support to breast-feeding mothers.

The group does not have an official position on whether to recommend co-sleeping to mothers, "but what we have found is that many mothers have found sleeping together facilitates breast-feeding," Zeretzke said.

Zeretzke said co-sleeping was essential in her household.

"Bringing the babies to bed let the entire family sleep peacefully," she said.

The issue of co-sleeping has attracted controversy in recent years, as the practice has become more popular.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and researchers say that bed-sharing leaves babies vulnerable to being crushed or suffocated, and may increase their risk of sudden infant death syndrome.

The safest place for infants to sleep is in the same room as the mother, but in their own crib, bassinet or cradle, the organization says. A policy statement to that effect was published in the November 2005 issue of the journal Pediatrics.

The statement pointed to one study showing that nearly half of 119 infants who died suddenly and unexpectedly during a four-year period in the St. Louis area did so while sleeping with someone else.