Doctors warn parents about infant sofa deaths

Doctors are issuing a warning to parents not to sleep with their babies on the sofa, after new research has shown a four-fold increase in infant deaths related to sofa-sharing.

Research published in The Lancet today has found that while the overall incidence of cot death has fallen by 75%, there has been a four-fold increase in deaths occurring while the infant sleeps with a parent on a sofa.

The 20-year study, carried out by a team from Bristol's Royal Children's Hospital, suggests that cot death now mostly affects families from less affluent backgrounds, with figures showing a 27% rise in infant fatalities amongst this socio-economic group.

Professor Peter Fleming, who led the research, stated: "Although the reasons for the rise in deaths when a parent sleeps with their infant on a sofa are unclear, we strongly recommend that parents avoid this sleeping environment.”

The number of cot deaths has steadily fallen from a peak of almost 1,600 a year in 1988, to around 300 a year. It is thought the reduction in mortality is largely due to a 1991 campaign which advised parents to put their babies to sleep on their backs, rather than on their front or their side.

Professor Fleming added that it was vital that updated preventative information about infant mortality was given to vulnerable parents. He stated: “One of the reasons this appears to be happening, some of the families have told us, is because they were advised not to bring their babies into bed with them so they fed them on the sofa. A confusion of message - or a lack of message - has caused this increase.”

(CL/GB)