Coroner issues warning on co-sleeping after cot death incident

The death of a small baby in Australia from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome has prompted warnings over co-sleeping.

The little boy was two months old in August of 2016 when he died, reports ABC News Australia. He had been sleeping on a double mattress with his mother and his five-year-old sister at the family home in Tasmania. The family had decided to sleep in the living room together as the bedrooms had been so cold, a coroner's report found. The next day, the baby's mother woke to find him unresponsive and with blood on his face. A post-mortem found the baby to be otherwise healthy. The cause of death was found to be "unexpected death in infancy whilst co-sleeping with an adult and an older child." Coroner Simon Cooper recommended that babies sleep on their own in a cot rather than in a bed with a parent or sibling. Co-sleeping is still a contentious issue among parents as a number prefer to sleep with their baby despite the advice that it can be dangerous. In the UK, 665 infants have died over the past five years in cases where sharing a bed with a parent was a factor according to the Lullaby Trust, an organisation that aims to prevent cot deaths. In Ireland, rates of infant deaths from SIDS have fallen dramatically over the past 30 years, from 134 per year in the 1980s to fewer than 30 in more recent times. This is largely down to better information campaigns and a greater understanding of the condition. You can read the HSE's guidelines for sleep and SIDS prevention here. Key tips include getting rid of any loose objects including blankets, pillows and sleep positioners from cots and maintaining a relatively cool room temperature.