# What's the likelihood of suffocating a child sleeping in your bed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [July 25, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508 "2013-07-25T18:33:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jprokos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/35a633/32.png) [@jprokos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jprokos)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/1 "2013-07-25T18:33:25Z")
Can someone explain? I was never initiated into a religion. What is gospel and what is a bible? * * * LINK TO COLUMN: [What’s the likelihood of suffocating a child sleeping in your bed? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1231/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed) ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 25, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/2 "2013-07-25T18:38:05Z")
"The Dangers of Sleeping With Baby By LISA BELKIN There has been a fourfold increase in the rate of infant strangulation and suffocation in the U.S. in the past 20 years, according to a report released today, and the apparent cause (though hardly the definitive one) is the rise in numbers of babies who share beds with their parents. " [http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/the-risks-of-sleeping-with-your-baby/?\_r=1](http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/the-risks-of-sleeping-with-your-baby/?_r=1) ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/3 "2013-07-26T03:19:32Z")
> [@jprokos](#): > > Can someone explain? I was never initiated into a religion. What is gospel and what is a bible? You’re kidding, right? This is a question that a quick look in the dictionary would answer for you. Well, OK, two looks, under “bible” and under “gospel” but you don’t need religious education to be able to use a dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/4 "2013-07-26T08:55:36Z")
I take it the OP, like me, was disappointed that Cecil didn’t take the question seriously enough to give us some kind of reality-based answer. Odd that Cecil failed this one time, since it’s a question with potentially serious consequences for a lot of readers. (By “potentially,” I mean I truly have no idea what the answer is, and I thank the above poster for the link they provided to some actual facts.) ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2013, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/5 "2013-07-26T09:32:35Z")
depends how tired I am and if they’re fidgeting… ---
**Author:** ![aussie\_thorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@aussie\_thorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aussie_thorn)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2013, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/6 "2013-07-28T23:42:23Z")
( i apologise for starting a new thread on this - if forum overlords could remove that one please ?) The S.I.D.S. foundation ( Australian Sudden Infant Death) strongly advise that babies and toddles sleep on a separate bed/cradle what ever. The problem might be “overlaying” or over heated. or ? the baby ending up in a position where they can not maintain open airways, whatever: I do believe the SIDS people know what they are talking about, and they can quote statistics ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/7 "2013-07-29T01:16:08Z")
While this may be true, the possibility of SIDS is not the same thing as the possibility of overlieing. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2013, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/8 "2013-07-29T12:17:14Z")
MODERATOR NOTE: **aussie thorn** , I have deleted your separate thread and moved **John W. Kennedy** ’s response to this one. ---
**Author:** ![aussie\_thorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@aussie\_thorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aussie_thorn)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/9 "2013-07-30T08:16:19Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > While this may be true, the possibility of SIDS is not the same thing as the possibility of overlieing. _insert various strong expletives_ the POINT is to have a live baby in the morning. edit: thank you Forum Moderator. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/11 "2013-07-30T16:32:30Z")
While it is certainly true that all risks to co-sleeping need to be considered from a parent’s perspective, there is a valid discussion over the risk of oversleeping, as opposed to other ways infants might die. Now it may be that the SIDS folks have some data that is relevant, and “suffocating a child sleeping in your bed” is vague enough to cover SIDS. But there’s no need to get all huffy at **John W. Kennedy** for pointing out that SIDS is a different thing that oversleeping. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2013, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/12 "2013-08-03T09:35:06Z")
If this discussion does continue, I humbly request we use a different word than “oversleeping” to denote “inadvertently killing a child by crushing or suffocation in a bed.” In American English at least, “oversleep” means “miss an appointment by sleeping longer than intended, often due to a faulty, misprogrammed, or unheard alarm clock.” ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2013, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-likelihood-of-suffocating-a-child-sleeping-in-your-bed/664508/13 "2013-08-05T15:42:03Z")
Perhaps I should have said “overlaying” instead of “oversleeping”. “Crushing” also works, though implies a kind of structural damage not necessarily intended.