Cosleeping SIDS risk--study

This article makes NO sense to me...contradictory statements right next
to each other. Discuss.

From the Irish Times:

Sleeping with parents major factor in sudden infant death


Infants who sleep with their parents are seven times more likely to die
of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome than children who sleep on their own,
according to a new study. Dick Ahlstrom, Science Editor, reports.

Co-sleeping with mothers who smoked during pregnancy is also a
significant risk factor for infants under 20 weeks, the five-year study
of more than 800 Irish babies concludes.

The study, led by Dr Cliona McGarvey of the National Sudden Infant Death
Register and published today in the British Medical Association's
journal, Archives of Disease in Childhood, highlights a range of factors
that together increase the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
16-fold.

The absence of routine soother use prior to the infant's death was also
a significant risk factor, according to the study, which found that more
SIDS cases than controls habitually used soothers in this study.

"However, 47 per cent of these babies did not have their soother on the
night they died." They were six times more at risk of SIDS without their
soother than regular users who did have it.

The study found that particular dangers included co-sleeping with
parents, maternal smoking and infants sleeping in the prone (lying face
down) position.

SIDS remains the leading cause of infant death in developed countries
and accounts for four of every 10 infant deaths here, according to the
authors. They note that the SIDS rate had dropped steeply here after
information campaigns warning parents to avoid placing children to sleep
in the prone position, from two per 1,000 live births to 0.8 per 1,000
live births.

The study included 203 SIDS cases and 622 control infants born between
1994-98.

It found that "co-sleeping increases the SIDS risk by a factor of seven.
This figure was increased to 16.47 when adjusted" for other factors, the
authors report.

Age was a key consideration, with the risk associated with bed sharing
not significant for infants older than 20 weeks.

The study found that 39 per cent of SIDS cases were co-sleeping and had
mothers who smoked during pregnancy, compared with only one per cent of
controls. Some countries, including Norway, recommended co-sleeping as a
way to increase breast feeding, "which in itself has been said to reduce
the SIDS risk," the authors note.

"Our data show that bed-sharing does not pose a risk if the infant is
placed back in their own cot to sleep, as only infants who were
bed-sharing for the entire sleep period were at increased risk of SIDS."

--
'Tis Herself