So this seems to be a pretty hot topic both on here & in person so I thought I'd share facts from actual scholarly articles I've found. First off, some studies have shown an increased risk of SIDS with bed sharing. However, now of the studies I found that showed this correlation took in other factors that could've caused this increase. Some of these factors are: smoking, alcohol or drug use, medications causing maternal impairment (such as sleep medications), underweight infants, & infants with history of illnesses. Bed sharing does cause more wakings, but this has been speculated as a positive to decrease risk of SIDS. Amount of time awake is also decreased due to the faster response time from mom. Mothers who bed share are more likely to breastfeed longer & have lower levels of stress hormones. Bed sharing is the norm in non western cultures. Japan, where most parents bed share, has one of the lowest rates of SIDS.

Therefore, a blanket statement out saying bed sharing is dangerous is inaccurate.