Are There Long-term Consequences of Room-Sharing During Infancy?

In November 2016, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Task Force on sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) published an updated policy statement¹ with guidelines to reduce the risk of SIDS and other sleep-related deaths. Although there were several changes in the recommendations, the one that got the most attention was the recommendation that room-sharing without bed-sharing should be practiced “ideally for a year, but at least for 6 months.” The previous (2011) policy statement had stated that all of the recommendations should be followed until the infant is 1 year of age.² Many pediatricians and other health care providers have voiced concerns that room-sharing for 6 months or 1 year will result in negative consequences on the quality of parental and child sleep. Up to now, there have been few studies looking at sleep outcomes in room-sharing and solitary sleeping (ie, sleeping in a separate room from the...