London: You may want to start sharing your bed with your newborn as according to a research, sleeping with babies can boost breastfeeding.
The Durham university study found that mother who bed-shares for at least an hour a week are more likely to carry on breastfeeding for longer, but those who go to the baby's cot are more likely to stop breastfeeding before six months, the Daily Mail reported.
The NHS recommends exclusive breastfeeding for around the first six months as breastfed babies have less chance of diarrhoea and vomiting, fewer chest and ear infections, less likelihood of becoming obese and therefore developing type 2 diabetes and other obesity-related illnesses later in life. The longer breastfeed, the longer the protection lasts and the greater the benefits.
Researcher Helen Ball said that in this paper they show that mothers with the strongest intent to breastfeed are the ones who sleep with their babies the most, adding that these mothers therefore need information on how to make bed-sharing while breastfeeding as safe as possible.
Ball noted that given the complex relationship between bed-sharing and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) appropriate guidance balancing risk minimisation with support for breastfeeding mothers is crucial.
The study is published in Acta Paediatrica.
