Key Points
- Experts warn that sharing a bed with a baby under six months can increase sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) risk, even if parents follow safe sleep guidelines.
- Co-sleeping is common among new parents but classified as unsafe by health authorities like The Lullaby Trust.
- Parents are advised to place babies in a separate cot or Moses basket next to the bed for safest sleep.
- Recent studies highlight accidental suffocation risks from bedding, pillows, or parental presence during bed-sharing.
Leeds (Liverpool Standard) January 31, 2026 – Health experts have issued a stark warning to new parents about a common bedtime practice that poses a lethal risk to infants.
The behaviour in question—bed-sharing with babies under six months—is described as “perfectly normal” by many families but can lead to accidental deaths through suffocation or SIDS, according to reports from Yahoo News UK and The Lullaby Trust.
Why is bed-sharing with babies so dangerous?
Bed-sharing involves parents sleeping in the same bed as their infant, a practice adopted by up to 50 per cent of new mothers in the UK, as noted in coverage by Yahoo News UK drawing from The Lullaby Trust guidelines.
Even when parents avoid alcohol, smoking, or heavy bedding, the risks remain high due to the baby’s vulnerability to overheating, rolling over, or becoming trapped, health charity reports confirm.
As reported by health specialists of The Lullaby Trust, bed-sharing triples the risk of SIDS for babies under four months and heightens suffocation dangers from parental bodies or soft surfaces.
What do experts recommend instead?
The Lullaby Trust and NHS advise “room-sharing without bed-sharing,” placing babies in a cot or Moses basket beside the parents’ bed for at least the first six months.
This setup allows for easy night feeds and monitoring while minimising SIDS risk by 50 per cent, according to verified guidelines covered across UK news outlets.
How common is this risky behaviour among parents?
Surveys indicate nearly half of UK parents co-sleep at some point, often due to exhaustion or cultural norms, yet awareness campaigns stress the evidence-based alternatives.
What should parents do next to protect their baby?
Parents are urged to review sleep arrangements immediately, ensuring a firm, flat mattress with no pillows, duvets, or toys in the baby’s sleep space.
Resources from The Lullaby Trust provide free safer sleep checklists, with hotlines available for advice amid rising awareness of these preventable tragedies.
