Maternal Bedsharing Practices, Experiences, and Awareness of Risks

JOGNN, 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 infants
c. 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 basis
c. 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 # 1
What 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

A. Research Question # 2
What 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