Maternal Bedsharing Practices, Experiences, and Awareness of RisksJOGNN, May to June 2008, Volume 37, Number 3, pp. 274 – 281

SUMMARY

The objectives of the study were to determine mother’s practices and experiences of bedsharing with their infants and also to determine their knowledge of the risks. The data of the study were gathered through a self-report questionnaire mailed to 1,122 mothers of infants and a follow-up letter was sent after a week to encourage return of outstanding questionnaires; there was a 26% return rate. The researchers conducted the study in Manitoba, Canada and gathered mothers of infants age 3 months as respondents whose contact information were obtained through the Manitoba Health Information Privacy Committee.

The Questionnaire

A questionnaire was developed by the researchers to obtain demographic profile of the respondents and their experiences and opinions regarding bedsharing. Following the questions, respondents were asked about their agreements/disagreements (6-point Likert-type scale: strongly disagree to strongly agree) on three items:

a. Sleeping with one’s baby in bed (bedsharing) is natural for the mother and the baby

b. Bedsharing should be encouraged for breastfeeding mothers and infantsc. Bedsharing has some risks associated with it

The answers collapsed in two categories: agree and disagree.

The questionnaire also included questions such as whether respondents slept with their babies on the same bed on:

a. A regular basis (at least three times a week)b. An Occasional basisc. Never

There were also open-ended questions to encourage the mothers to voice out their opinions about practices of bedsharing and their risks.

The Results

A. Research Question # 1What are the attitudes, rates, experiences and contexts of bedsharing of

parents of infants in Manitoba? Most of the respondents agreed (70.4%) that

it was natural for mother and baby to sleep in the same bed. Respondents were halved between agreement (49.1%) and disagreement (48.5%) with the statement that bedsharing should be encouraged for breastfeeding mothers.

Some examples of the comments posted by the respondents that expressed their sentiments of naturalness of bedsharing were:

- It makes me comfortable knowing she’s right beside me and everything’s OK

- It’s handy for breastfeeding… at night you get more sleep than if you have to get up to feed

- There is a bond between mother and baby and both want to be together

Of the respondents, 47.7% reported that they slept with their infants on the same bed on a regular basis (more than thrice a week), and 29.7 % reported that they slept with their infant on an occasional basis. Combining these categories, 74.4% of respondents reported bedsharing with their infants on a regular or occasional basis. Of those who said that they were bedsharing with their infants, 13% indicated that the duration of length of time of bedsharing was the duration of the feed (20 min to 1 hr), 42.5% indicated 2 to 3 hrs, while almost one third (30.7%) indicated most or all the night

The only difference identified between mothers who bedshared and those who did not was in relation to brestfeeding. Most of the mothers who were breatfeeding were most likely to bedshare with their infants than those who were not.

More than one quarter (27.6%) indicated that they never bedshared with their infants and they were asked why. Some of the comments they posted were:

- I was worried about my husband rolling over on to her

- I worry about him getting injured

- Fear of rolling on top of my baby or other situations whereby baby may be hurt

- I like my own space for me and my husband

- Because I don’t want my baby to get used to sleeping with me

B. Research Question # 2What was the knowledge level of parents related to risks of bedsharing?

The vast majority of the study (88.7%) agreed with the statement that

sleeping with their babies had some risks. Statements of the respondents included the following:

- Soft beds, extra pillows, blankets, etc. – smothering. F either parent is heavy or abuses drugs and alcohol – easy to roll on top of the baby

- Accidentally suffocating the baby ( blankets), rolling over the baby

- You could roll over the baby, baby could fall off from bed, baby gets too dependent on the parents

- Suffocation by parents, parents’ bedclothes, the bedding. Getting caught somewhere in the bed or against the wall, falling off the bed

However, only 10% agreed that there were no risks with bedsharing with their infants. The mothers who agreed that there were risks in bedsharing were less likely to bedshare with their infants.

Respondents were asked about any bedsharing situations with their infant, in the same bed or other location (e.g., the couch) where they had experienced rolling onto or partway onto their infants and their infants had woken them with crying or moving. Of 212 respondents who bedshared with their infants on regular or occasional basis, 13% reported such occurrence. These occurrences included experiences of either the mother of the partner rolling onto or partway onto the infant.

CONCLUSION

The results of the study conducted by the researchers showed that bedsharing, although the risks were recognized by most of the respondents, was a common practice. Most of the time it is being practiced for the benefits of breastfeeding mothers and infants and also of mother-child bonding. The data gathered from the respondents showed that the occurrences such as rolling onto their infants while bedsharing were real as they answered statements on the open-ended questions posted by the researchers. This is a helpful study for nurses for even though it has been conducted in Canada, it does not give the guarantee that bedsharing rates in the Philippines were lower than that of Canada’s. This poses an option to conduct another study of this sort in a specific place in the country to know prevalence of bedsharing between mothers and their infants. The results of the study that will be conducted will surely be helpful in proposing more healthful practices in caring for the infants that will lessen the risks of suffocation or death.

RECOMMENDATION

It is undeniable that the possibility of mothers’ bedsharing with their infant is great when they are breastfeeding, in this way, it will offer them more convenience for they can sleep while feeding the baby and do not anymore need to stand near the crib or transfer to another area for feeding hour. For this factor, it is important that mothers be educated by healthcare providers about the risks of the bedsharing with their infants. Bonding can be facilitated in other waking hours of the baby, if this is the main concern of mothers who agree with bedsharing with their infants. However, the risks of suffocating or dying of the baby cannot outweigh the need of bonding while breastfeeding.

Economic factors cannot also be set-aside, considering the living status of the majority of the population in the Philippines. Mothers who are included in the poverty or even in below poverty line are more likely to bedshare with their infants since they cannot afford to buy a crib or their living space is inadequate to provide a separate area for the infant. This is a broad-factor to deal with, however, family planning still has a significant role due to the fact that lesser number of children in the family can lessen the need for greater expenses on bigger spaces on living area.

Parents who regularly smoke and drink are more difficult to be awaken by the infant’s soft cry or movements, therefore, the couple should consider putting the infant in a crib or a separate sleeping space to avoid wedging of the infant on a wall, rolling over onto the infant, or suffocating through blankets and pillows.

It is still rather important to take into consideration the safety of the baby at all times.

TILLA-IN, Kristelie Mae A.BSN 2Y2 - 7