The organization's policy statement has generated controversy among some doctors. The academy's breast-feeding panel wrote a letter to the journal Pediatrics saying bed-sharing under safe conditions may be important to breast-feeding.
Co-sleeping has become popular among some mothers who say the practice allows both mother and infant to sleep through feedings.
A survey of nearly 8,500 people found that 12.8% of infants regularly shared an adult bed at night in 2000, more than double the percentage in 1993, according to a government study published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. Of those polled from 1993 through 2000, nearly 45% shared their beds with infants occasionally.
The practice also was highlighted in an article about Jennifer Lopez's newborn twins in the March 31 issue of People magazine, which said, "Although the babies have ornate cribs, Jennifer and Marc often take them to bed."
Dr. Bob Sears, an Orange County pediatrician who co-wrote "The Baby Sleep Book," said some co-sleeping can be unsafe, but disagreed with the blanket statement that the practice is unsafe all the time.
"So many babies sleep so much better nestled up to a parent that many parents are doing it to get a better night's sleep," he said. "Parents aren't going to stop doing it just because the government tells them what kind of parent they should be."
Los Angeles County officials say, however, that the practice has led to some tragedies.
Patricia Ploehn, director of the county Department of Children and Family Services, recalled a case in 2006 in which a father sitting on a chair fell asleep with his infant child sleeping on his chest; he awoke to find that the infant had slipped in between the armrest and seat cushion and died.
"It's just disturbing," she said. "It's broken the hearts of so many parents."
Some of the co-sleeping deaths were connected with parents who were under the influence of drugs, but others were not, Ploehn said. "In those first few weeks" after a child is born, she said, "they are exhausted."
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ron.lin@latimes.com
