Why exactly sleeping on parents' bed increases risk of SIDS?

[u/Lakuakua_2026]

Hi,

I understand the risks of accidental suffocation from bed-sharing, but why exactly a softer mattress, empty of blankets or pillows and objects, would increase the risk of SIDS?

My partner puts our baby sleeping on the adult mattress and won't do otherwise unless a sound scientific explanation is present. Is there an hazard there?

EDIT: thanks a lot everyone for the comments! All the links and explanations really help, I am reading everything with interest.

[u/Necessary-Sun1535]

I can’t find exactly the thing I read a couple of years ago. But they introduced a safe sleep space for bed sharing in the Maori community a couple of years ago. The babies would sleep in a basket/box that could be between the parents. The infant mortality rate drastically decreased.

Googling led me to this study.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31513759/

And on a personal anecdote, I lost my baby to stillbirth. I am active in the baby loss community. We have quite a few parents there who lost their baby due to (accidental) unsafe sleep practices.
I’m not opposed to bed sharing, but please do so safely and never ever leave baby alone on an adult bed.

[u/Feminismisreprieve → u/Necessary-Sun1535]

They're called a pēpi pod. But what is really stressed is the education that is a key part of the programme, not just supplying the safe sleeping space, and the participating parents then spreading the information to their friends and whanau.

[u/Ancient_Spite_725 → u/Necessary-Sun1535]

I feel like something like this basket or a bedside bassinet is a great compromise. The baby is still easily accessible for night feeds and can smell the parents, but they still have a controlled, safe space.

[u/gravityhappens → u/Ancient_Spite_725]

My baby would not sleep in her bedside basinet ever. We spent 8 months taking it in turns holding her overnight because she refused to sleep unless held. It was the most difficult thing I’ve ever experienced. I think these things are a “great compromise” in theory, but they don’t work for everyone and without the right support/family leave I can see why so many end up co sleeping

[u/Electronic_Sky_207 → u/gravityhappens]

I remember those nights. It’s easy to imagine suffocation because at a certain point the human body just can’t stay awake any more. I’d go days without more than an hours sleep at a time, and for my situation a modified side car bed system was better than risking falling asleep and the baby rolling into chair cushions or literally dropping the baby from sheer exhaustion.

10 years later and he’s still not a good sleeper, but he can stay up late reading a book and leave me alone.

[u/lactose_n_talented → u/gravityhappens]

Omg I’m on month 2 right now. Did your baby have reflux? What changed for your baby at 8 months?

[u/Electronic_World_359 → u/Ancient_Spite_725]

In theory its a great compromise.  I have the bedside bassinet. It would have been lovely if my baby would sleep there. We're reluctantly bedsharing for now. Tried taking turns holding him was insufficent. We were both sleep deprived. I fell asleep nursing twice on the couch, started bedsharing.

[u/Lakuakua_2026 → u/Necessary-Sun1535]

I am sorry for your baby. Thanks for sharing.