Introduction:

a safe environment during sleep reduces mortality from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The role of co-sleeping as a risk factor for SIDS continues to generate controversy.

Objectives:

estimate the prevalence of co-sleeping during the first year of life reported by relatives of children assisted at a public hospital. Understand its association with the duration of breastfeeding.

Methodology:

cross-sectional study that included relatives of children aged 1 to 5 years assisted by a public provider. An anonymous questionnaire was administered with prior consent. The variables studied were: adherence to safe sleep guidelines, co-sleeping, characteristics and reasons for co-sleep, breastfeeding and duration, comorbidities. Descriptive statistics were used. To determine the associations between the variables, a significance level of 5% was determined. The study was approved by the institution’s Ethics Committee.

Results:

of 222 children, 55% reported co-sleeping, of which 77% do it routinely; 57% multiple co-sleeping. The most frequent reasons: fear of an event during sleep and comfort. The duration of breastfeeding was greater than 12 months in 47% of those who practiced co-sleeping and 38% of those who did not (p 0.189).

Conclusions:

the prevalence of co-sleeping was high, attributed in most cases to comfort and fear of a fatal event during sleep. The duration of breastfeeding was longer in the group that practiced co-sleeping, although no statistically significant difference was found.

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