TORONTO - Ontario's coroners say there's growing concern about parents who share a bed with their baby.
An annual report by the Paediatric Death Review Committee and the Deaths Under 5 Committee says bed sharing and unsafe sleeping environments are leading to too many deaths.
The report suggests there's no way of knowing how many parents sleep with their infants without anything going wrong.
But it still calls bed sharing "a genuine public safety issue'' due to the number of deaths that are occurring.
In 2006 and 2007, 41 baby deaths in Ontario were attributed to bed sharing.
Another 36 deaths were related to unsafe sleeping environments, like adult beds, couches, armchairs and infant swings.
The report says there's been a decrease in the number of sudden infant death syndrome cases, in which a child under one-year-old dies and a thorough investigation cannot explain the fatality.
But bed sharing and unsafe sleeping have contributed to an increase in sudden unexpected death cases, which can be attributed to SIDS, accidental injuries, non-accidental injuries due to neglect or abuse, or a previously undiagnosed natural disease.
"Various child death review teams share this view and several organizations have taken a strong stance and have issued position statements and warnings about the risks associated with bed sharing,'' the report states.
"Although a controversial issue, we believe it would be irresponsible not to report the number of these deaths reviewed in Ontario. This message is meant to raise the awareness of parents, alternate caregivers, and professionals who work with young children.''
The ages of the infants that died after bed sharing ranged between 11 days and 13-months-old.
For unsafe sleeping environment deaths the range was between 34 hours and 16-months-old.
