Co-sleeping with baby on sofa

Before I read this today, I frequently took naps with the baby on the sofa..I'm so glad I read this

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4617976.stm

Thanks for posting this. My niece just had a baby and while she was aware of the dangers of sleeping in the bed, she too naps on the sofa with him. I've sent it to her.

It's a good article if not a bit slanted.  I think not enough attention was paid to why SIDS occurs either on the sofa or the bed.  Though it does clearly link smoking and other at risk behaviour as being a possible contributing factor.

One person points out that cots death is actually lower in nations where co-sleeping takes place.  Which is pretty accurate from what I have read.

I do think they have a point and it's important to be aware of SIDS, but I do get irritated at the slant the press takes on things. 

Still it's a good article to post so people can be aware of potential dangers. 

I have never co-slept with any of my babies. I would be too nervous!
I never bathed with any of them either...slippery little buggers!   

i've slept on a bed w/roisin b/c it was the only way she'd settle, but she was on one side in her grobag.

our sofa is one of those ikea types that folds into  a bed so has no cushions. 

mostly, tho,it's her moses basket next to the bed.

I have co-slept with both of my children, 16-18 months is about the age they start to sleep in their own beds the entire night. 

I am not a heavy sleeper.  When they are newborns I generally ended up putting them back in the cot or I let them sleep on my chest.  I know these are not recommended things, but I agree with vnicepeeps there are more factors involved.

I also have this amazing pillow that is quite firm, like a boomerang shape, if we napped on the bed together, I would put that around them as they couldn't roll and it would be impossible to roll onto them.

They seem to be talking about a fear of baby slipping down between you and the back of the sofa and suffocating.  When Ethan was tiny I fell asleep lying on the sofa loads of times with him lying on me. I would have thought the greater risk would be him falling off, that's what used to freak me out.

I used to sleep with Dagmar on the couch like that all the time, Liz.  I just always made sure she was in the crook of my arm, resting on it, so she couldn't fall behind the cushions.

And I'm still co-sleeping with Morgan...but boy I'm getting ready to stop...

I agree with peeps.  Good article, but slanted.  I remember in FL the news one day was reporting a baby death ( :\\\'()...and the "headline" they used was "Another death due to co-sleeping."  Turns out, it was because the baby's older child, 2, rolled on top of the baby in its sleep.  Not exactly the same thing as a co-sleeping death-any good book or article about cosleeping warns you not to put babies and older kids next to each other in a bed.  And one of the anchors actually said, "It's so sad, people should really be warned that it's not a good idea to sleep with a baby" or something like that, which made me mad, because they've done studies that do show the baby sleeps btter and breathes better when sleeping with Mommy.  (It's all in the Dr. Sears Baby Sleep book, the actual research.)

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After reading it I did a search on cotdeath & SIDS and I was so paranoid last night! Everytime shes sleeping in her basket I am constantly checking on her

same here, ey.

I did some reading up on it and it seems one of the major concerns, for both in bed and on sofa sleeping, is the chemicals in mattresses and sofa cushions which inhibits breathing. The theory being that, while sleeping, babies (and all of us, for that matter) breather more deeply, taking more of the chemicals into the lungs.

Well I just found out the baby of my friend's cousin died a few nights ago.  He was asleep in his cot and rolled over onto his tummy and suffocated.  His mother had checked on him 20 minutes prior and he was fine and when she came back ...

So sad.

Aw, Britwife!  That's so tragic.  How old was the baby?  Most of the time, if a baby is old enough to roll, he/she is not likely to die from SIDS. 

My condolences to your friend's cousin.  :\\\'(

That's what I thought about babies rolling over too.  He was 4 months old so maybe had only just started to roll.  They are still waiting for the coroner's report so it is possible that there is some other cause.

Well I just found out the baby of my friend's cousin died a few nights ago.  He was asleep in his cot and rolled over onto his tummy and suffocated.  His mother had checked on him 20 minutes prior and he was fine and when she came back ...

So sad.

Poor baby....poor mom and dad. My sympathies go out to them.