Study suggests that US reduction in SIDS is merely due to changes in classification - what about UK figures?

[Upwind]

"new guidelines for classifying unexplained infant death have led to more deaths being classified as unexplained suffocation and fewer deaths being classified as sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The total death rate did not change at all; only the classification changed.

This study does have important implications, but not the ones that the press release claimed. The study raises the possibility that the dramatic decline in SIDS attributed to putting babies on their back is not a real decline, but simply an effect of changing the classification of infant deaths."

from here

At antenatal classes recently we had the fear of God put into us about co-sleeping on the basis of SIDS. Ever since then, I have been trying to find some research which attempts to quantify this risk, to no avail. Now I can't help wonder if a lot of unnecessary pressure has been caused by the emphasis on "back to sleep" and "baby in its own cot in the parents' bedroom"

The emphasis on preventing bedsharing makes it harder for mothers to breastfeed. Formula fed babies are at higher risk of SIDS - so could this part of the advice actually be increasing the risk of SIDS? If it is evidence based why can't parents be given the figures so they can make their own judgements?

Interesting. Also the emphasis on putting baby on its back is stressful for new parents as so many babies hate being put on their backs but settle happily on their fronts - parents are petrified of them dying so their early weeks are plagued with babies that are difficult to settle because they are forced to go down on their backs.

I have also looked for co-sleeping data from the UK, and not found anything much. I know that UK SIDS figures group together bed sharing and sofa sharing, giving unecessarily high SIDS incidence for 'co-sleeping' (sofa sharing being the most dangerous sleeping environment). There are big data gathering exercises in the UK - CESDI for one. Can't remember the name of the other.

But seeing as I'm at home on maternity leave, a short google has found this article, which gives Odds Ratios for different aspects of sleep environment
Pediatrics journal article

And this one from the BMJ seems especially relevant (and less difficult to interpret, as the first one is all about life in Chicago...) BMJ article on SIDS risk factors

CaptainKarvol - thanks for that, very reassuring on a personal level!!!

Another thread has got me thinking that the ban on bedsharing, or even breastfeeding in bed (for fear of falling asleep) must make it even harder for women, post c- section

Upwind - there is a leaflet by UNICEF on Sharing a bed with your baby - a guide for breastfeeding mothers.

You will find it on the babyfriendly website and it was put together with the help of FSID.

I think the anthropologist Helen Ball has been doing very recent work too on co-sleeping.