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Although bed-sharing with infants has been discouraged because of increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), some parenting resources have suggested that bed-sharing might potentially improve infant–maternal attachment and bonding. To investigate this hypothesis, 178 infant–mother pairs (105 term and 73 preterm) were enrolled at term and studied longitudinally to see if bed-sharing in the first 6 months influenced child behavior, infant attachment, or maternal bonding at 18 months.
Mean gestational age was 35 weeks; mean maternal age was 30.6 years. The rate of bed-sharing was 42% at term, declined to 23% at 3 months, then rose to 28% at 6 months and 31% at 18 months. Bed-sharing was associated with night wakings, longer settlin…