Ateah - new mother survey

We did a survey of new parents. They all had babies about the ages of two to three months of age and we surveyed 293 mothers to ask them about sharing a bed with their infant. And 72% of moms said that sometimes, occasionally or on a regular basis they do bring their infants in to bed with them. And even more concerning to us was that 89% expressed that they realized there were some risks to it. But they really just felt it was so convenient and that they felt that they could handle the risks.  

13% of those mothers gave an example of an instance where they felt they had partially rolled on to their child or had somehow obstructed their child’s breathing either by their arm or their partner’s arm and they expressed how scared that made them feel.  

So we felt that this was you know more evidence that parents need more information. And just last year the government of Manitoba did come out with a pamphlet called “The ABC’s of Safe Sleep”.  ‘A’ being ‘alone’ that an infant should sleep alone. ‘B’ on their ‘back’ because back we know is the safest place for baby to sleep. And ‘C’ for ‘crib’ – they should be in their own crib, a safety-approved crib. So it’s a wonderful very brief resource that parents have found very helpful.