In the latest Lancet medical journal, researchers have found that two common bacteria, Staphylococcus and Escherichia coli, may have contributed to cot deaths in infants. A team from Great Ormond Street Hospital (UK) have found high levels of these bacteria in post-mortem tests on over 500 babies who died of unexplained reasons. They concluded that one explanation could be that the bacteria released deadly toxins which damaged the heart, lungs or nervous system. However, they were quick to point out that bacterial growth might also be a secondary effect of other risk factors like over-heating, parental smoking and lying the child on its stomach.

Sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) is a leading cause of death in babies under a year old, yet its root cause remains a mystery. In the UK, 500 children a year die of SUDI and 90 per cent of these babies are aged under age 9 months.

Interestingly, according to child psychotherapist and award-winning mental health author Margot Sunderland, research around the world shows very low rates of SUDI in countries where co-sleeping is common. In China, where co-sleeping is taken for granted, SUDI is so rare that it doesn’t have a name. In most parts of Asia, putting baby in another room is not an option for many families because they simply haven’t a spare room. In her book, “What Every Parent Needs To Know”, Sunderland says that solitary sleeping for babies is very much a Western middle-class phenomenon.

She further explains how SUDI occurs and how it can be prevented. SUDI is caused mostly by unstable breathing and an immature cardiovascular system. Scientific studies show that separation from a mother’s body means the baby moves into a primitive defence mode, which can result in wildly irregular breathing and heartbeat. After 6 hours of separation from his mother, a baby has stress hormones twice as high as a baby whose mother is close by. In contrast, being in close bodily contact with the mother stabilizes a baby’s heartbeat and breathing.

Sunderland espouses co-sleeping as extensive scientific research shows that safe co-sleeping can be a real investment for your child’s future physical and emotional health. Close physical contact with you will regulate your baby’s body systems such as arousal patterns, body temperature, metabolic rate as well as hormone levels. It also helps in the enzyme production, by increasing the strength of antibodies and thus his ability to fight disease. The anti-stress effect of close body contact releases oxytocin which boosts the baby’s immune system.

Co-sleeping means hours of extra body contact. Scientific studies show the more touch a child gets in childhood, the calmer and less fearful he is likely to be as an adult. Physical contact helps to regulate the stress response system in the brain, which , without this regulation can become hard-wired for oversensitivity. Some studies show that children who have never slept with their parents are harder to control and these children also tend to cope less well when left alone and more likely to have tantrums and be fearful.