Risk factors and a true cause of SIDS.

Evidence suggests blanket advice against bed-sharing may be ineffective and may be counterproductive, directly contributing to infant deaths in at least some cases. A survey of nearly 5000 US mothers revealed that sleepy parents are taking nighttime feedings to the sofa to avoid falling asleep with their infants in bed, and large numbers of these parents are unintentionally falling asleep there.5 Experts agree that sofas pose a much higher risk for infant death than beds.1,3 Parents of 2 SIDS infants described exactly this scenario, unaware that couches are far more dangerous places for infants to sleep than parental beds.3