Bed-sharing influences, attitudes, and practices: implications for promoting safe infant sleep.

The purpose of this study was to examine the infant bed-sharing practices of mothers from the birth of the infant to three months of age. The study was a longitudinal descriptive design using a self-report instrument immediately after delivery with follow-up phone interviews at one and three months after discharge. While no mothers intended to bed-share with their infants immediately after delivery, 60 percent reported bed-sharing at some time at one month after discharge and 9 percent at three months.