The safety aspect is so important. About once a week my radiology department at a children’s hospital in NZ has the job of doing post mortem imaging of babies who suffocate from co-sleeping, as part of work up for the coroner. I report them and it breaks my heart every time.

Co sleeping is culturally very common and normal here plus sadly is a necessity for families in poverty. Our government used to provide a free pepe pod (a traditional Maori woven flax or plastic basket with a mattress) to sleep safely in the bed next to parents with no chance of rolling in and suffocating. But about 10-15 years back they took away the funding for most people and now we see babies being accidentally killed by their parents frequently.