Is taking an ill child to bed with you the right thing to do?

[emkana]

I've just heard about a very sad case in the neighbourhood - a one-year-old died in his parents' bed overnight - the parents had taken him to bed with them because he had a temperature, they had taken him to the doctor who had said it was just a virus.
My friend who told me about this sort of blamed the being in the parents' bed thing for this tragedy - but I always thought that it was quite a good idea to keep a sick child close to you at night? As long as they don't get too hot?
We co-sleep all the time, so I'm interested in what people do who don't normally co-sleep.
I just feel so sorry for the poor poor parents.

How very tragic. We co-sleep with DS when he's unwell - seems the natural thing to do. I don't think there's any reason not to, as long as they don't overheat, as you say.

How awful.

I've always taken my kids to bed with me if they are ill, but I don't put my duvet on them, just one of their sheets/blankets depending how hot they are. And dh bless him, sleeps somewhere else, so we have room!!

As long as the child wasn't in a really hot bed under a really hot duvet I can't see how it was the parents fault - far more likely whatever caused the temp. Terrible tragedy but can't see how it was down to co-sleeping.

I didn't regularly sleep with dd when she was smaller but ALWAYS did when she had a temperature - making sure she was naked excpet for nappy and nowhere near my duvet - I was so frightened of her over heating or getting cold (with no clothes on !) without me nearby to know about it. I'm sure if you knew the full details of this tragic story there will be additional reasons why the baby died. Horribly sad.

i always popped the kids in bed with me when ill. it saves having to get up in the night to check their temp. if very very young, then i moved a cot into the bedroom and have it by the bed (have a bedside cot) so they are very close but wont over heat with combined body temps.

poor family, must be awful for them

emkana - that is so sad but I think it is likely the child would have died even if he had not been in their bed. Imagine if they had not taken him into bed? The would have been devastated that he had died alone. He must have had a very severe virus - sounds like meningitis.

I always insist my 2 sleep with me whenever ill, if something is wrong with them, I want to be close. Very sad news

Thats devastating news. I'm sure that the poor parents are in no way to blame, the child must have had some terrible illness for that to happen. My dd has slept in her own cot since she was 6 weeks old ( before that she always slept in bed with me, dh in other room)fortunately she has never been ill enough to sleep with me since but I would not hesitate to bring her in if I felt she were unwell. That is such terrible news, very, very sad.