Does bed sharing affect the risk of SIDS?

The American Academy of Pediatrics endorses and accepts as its policy the position on bed sharing as articulated below by a panel of experts convened by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). The Panel attended a conference sponsored by the NICHD entitled 'InfantSleep Environment and SIDS Risk' in Bethesda, MD, on January 9-10, 1997. After hearing presentations from a variety of experts from the United States and several other countries, the Panel prepared the following statement regarding the relationship of bed sharing and SIDS.