Infant roomsharing without bedsharing: Associated maternal and infant characteristics with this SIDS prevention recommendation

Background: In 2005, the AAP recommended infant-parent roomsharing (without bedsharing) to further reduce the SIDS rate. It is yet unknown how prevalent roomsharing is in the population, and if it is more prevalent in certain demographic groups. The goal of this study is to evaluate sleep location for U.S. infants.

Methods: Interviews were conducted with mothers of infants at Women, Infants, and Children centers in four US cities in 2005. Data were analyzed to identify and quantify factors associated with choice of infant sleep location.

Results: Of the 684 respondents, 27.6% reported roomsharing (without bedsharing). Teenage mothers (OR=0.48, 95%CI=0.29-0.81), black women (0.45, 0.28-0.70) and those with less than a high school education (0.53, 0.28-0.98) were less likely to report usually roomsharing without bedsharing. Roomsharing without bedsharing was also less common for infants who were not usually placed supine for sleep (0.67, 0.47-0.95) and for infants ages 4 to 8 months old age versus those 1 month or younger (0.47, 0.32-0.69).

Discussion: Roomsharing without bedsharing is the preferred sleep arrangement for infants and their parents, but is practiced by less than one-third of this study population. Infants are at higher SIDS risk if they are black, sleep in a non-supine position and have young, less educated mothers. Infants in these higher risk categories were also less likely to usually roomshare without bedsharing in our study. Efforts to increase rates of roomsharing without bedsharing, particularly in high risk groups, may help to further decrease the SIDS rate.