A coroner has advised parents not to bring their babies into bed with them, but is sleeping with your baby dangerous? Womens Editor Christen Pears reports.

MANY parents eager for a good night's sleep will do anything to settle their baby, and the most natural solution often lies in what is known as co-sleeping, or allowing their infant to share the parental bed. Lots of people swear by the practice and claim that it makes for happy babies, tantrum-free-toddlers and well-rested parents.

But a coroner has recently spoken out over the dangers of co-sleeping after four-week-old baby, Cerese Briggs, was accidentally smothered by her mother as they both lay sleeping together.

Roger Whittaker, the West Yorkshire Coroner who recorded a verdict of accidental death in the case, commented: "It is a well known fact that all mothers with children are likely to be extremely tired when they go to bed. Therefore, they may not be totally aware of what is going on. I have warned frequently over the last year that this practice should be stopped."

At Durham University's Queen's Campus in Stockton, anthropologist Dr Helen Ball begs to differ. She is one of a team of scientists working at Sleep Lab, a pioneering research centre investigating infant sleeping patterns.

Situated off a main corridor, the lab is a brightly-coloured room dominated by an enormous wooden bed, with cots standing next to it. With its small kitchen and sitting area with TV, it resembles a hotel room. It is only the monitoring equipment that indicates its real purpose.

The lab was officially opened in 2002 although research has been going on since 1996. The team has carried out a number of projects researching cot death, twins' sleeping patterns and, of course, co-sleeping. Parents and their children are invited to spend a night in the lab, where the baby's heart rate and temperature are monitored throughout.

Dr Ball says: "I think the coroner was over-reacting. Fifty per cent of breastfeeding mothers bed share regularly, as well as those who bring their babies into bed for other reasons, and the number of deaths is extremely low.

"There are things that can make it more dangerous, such as if the parents smoke or have been drinking or taking drugs. Even being excessively tired can cause problems because that means they are less aware of what's happening in the bed but generally there shouldn't be any problems." There is scientific research that proves that co-sleeping helps a baby to sleep better. At the beginning of the 1990s, American medical anthropologist James McKenna found that babies and parents work together as a thermostatic unit - when the mother heats up, the baby cools down, and vice versa. It has also been discovered that co-sleeping reminds very young babies how and when to breathe by listening to their parents' natural rhythms.

Dr Ball's most recent research paper, Why Parents Choose to Sleep with Babies, was published earlier this month and explores the reasons behind co-sleeping.

"The vast majority of mothers who choose to sleep with their babies do so because they are breastfeeding," she explains. "It has to be done round the clock and it makes it easier if the baby is next to the mother. They don't really have to wake up and nor does the baby."

But non-breastfeeding mothers may also choose to bring their baby into bed, perhaps if they are crying and won't settle, or are ill and their parents want to keep a closer eye on them.

"One of the things we found was that most parents don't share all night, every night. Most babies start the night in their own cot and are brought into the bed if they wake up. After that, they tend to stay there."

Interestingly, she discovered a difference between breastfeeding mums who regularly share a bed with their babies and those who are just occasional co-sleepers.

Mothers who don't make a practice of sharing a bed with their children tend to sleep with the baby higher up in the bed, resting on the pillow as if they were an adult.

Breastfeeding mothers sleep curled up round their babies. It's a natural position for breastfeeding but it is also very safe. The baby can't slip down under the covers because it can't get past the mother's knees. It can't go under the pillow because the mother's arm is above the head.

"The position adopted by breastfeeding mothers is the one we would advise and parents who want to sleep with their babies should find out more about how to do it safely.

"What we don't know at the moment is whether mums who formula feed can be taught the position that breastfeeding mums do instinctively, but that is something else we will be looking into."

* You can find out more about co-sleeping with your baby and download an information leaflet from UNICEF's baby friendly website www.babyfriendly.org.uk/parents/ leaflets.asp.