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Infant bed-sharing among Pacific families in New Zealand
Janis Paterson1, Colin Tukuitonga, Sarnia Butler
1Auckland University of Technology. janis.paterson@aut.ac.nz
Aim:
To describe infant bed-sharing among Pacific families in New Zealand.
Methods:
The data were gathered as part of the Pacific Island Families: First Two Years of Life (PIF) Study in which 1376 mothers were interviewed when their infants were six-weeks-old. Maternal reports of infant bed-sharing practices were assessed by questions about infant sleep location and the number of people who usually shared a mattress with the infant.
Results:
Over half of the mothers (54.9%) reported that their infants shared a mattress with other people, 44.2% sharing with one other person, the remainder sharing with two or more people. Of the bed-sharing infants, 4.7% slept on a mattress on top of the bed, and 4.7% only slept part of the night in the shared bed.
Conclusions:
Together with effective information delivery, the educational and housing issues that many Pacific families in New Zealand face need to be addressed so that parents can make informed decisions about infant care practices.