This study addressed the effect of mother-infant bed-sharing on infant body
temperature and possible mediating mechanisms. Axillary temperatures were
recorded for the entire night in 26 infants on both a bed-sharing night and
a solitary sleeping night, accompanied by polysomnography and video-taping
to allow assignment of sleep stages and behavioral analysis. All infants w
ere approximately 3 months old, healthy, Latino and breast-feeding; 16 of t
he infants bed-shared since birth while the others routinely slept alone. B
ed-sharing was associated with a significantly increased mean axillary temp
erature compared to solitary sleeping in both routine bed sharers and routi
ne solitary sleepers. This increase was expressed only in non-REM sleep, wi
th no differences during REM sleep or waking. The increase in temperature d
uring bed-sharing may be related to an increased frequency of transient, mo
vement-associated arousals during bed-sharing. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science ir
eland Ltd. All rights reserved.