Study Finds Sharing Beds Makes For Healthier Babies

An eager couple walked into the Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley Tuesday morning to find their triplet girls holding hands and cuddling.

The parents, Dana and Kaipo Young, have nothing but praise for the hospital's new bedding program, which allows parents to place their premature twins and triplets in the same crib.

The medical center found that premature twins and triplets are healthier if they share the same bed.

California's Department of Health Services approved "co-bedding" among premature twins and triplets this past June, following the success of a pilot program.

"When they asked us to participate in the program, we found that the benefits far outweighed the risks," said Dana Young.

"Co-bedding" helps babies gain weight faster, said Alison Brooks, a clinical nurse specializing in woman and infant care at Alta Bates. Cuddling also reduces the calories needed to keep warm. The babies use the saved energy to grow faster and sleep more soundly, Brooks said.

Nurses at Alta Bates also found that babies who co-bed synchronize and form bonds. Twins and triplets who co-bed have also had fewer respiratory problems.

Since twins and triplets who are born prematurely have immature body systems, they often experience apnea, a pause in breathing, and bradycardia, a slow heart rate. Brooks observed that the twins who co-bed seem to watch out for one another.

"It's almost as one senses the other (not breathing) and nudges the other to breathe," Brooks said.

Parents who participated in the study support the program.

Ruben Diaz and Nerida De Jesus said when they take one of their triplet boys out of the crib at the Medical center, the other two start to cry.

The De Jesus triplets have not experienced any cases of apea or bradycardia, and their parents plan to continue co-bedding their boys when they get home.

When the triplets get older, the couple plans to place their beds next to each other.

"I think it's great because they're so used to being together," De Jesus said.

Dana Young also said their triplets have not experienced negative side effects.

"The triplets are growing faster and eating more now that they're back together," Dana Young said.

Brooks said co-bedding is essential to the babies' health. She said that because babies who co-bed grow faster, they can go home more quickly.

Brooks conducted the study from April 2001 to March 2002. She observed 20 pairs of twins co-bedding.

She said she was concerned that the twins risked spreading infection or that a health care worker would give medication to the wrong twin. During the study, as health care workers monitored the twins' weight and health, the twins experienced none of these side effects, Brooks said.

Co-bedding is practiced in Sweden and in hospitals throughout the United States.

Brooks was first inspired to start the pilot program when Linda Luts, a health care worker who studied the effects of co-bedding in Sweden, came to visit Alta Bates and lectured on the benefits of co-bedding.

Multiple births are currently on the rise and single births are declining in the United States, Brooks said.

Alta Bates delivers about three to four sets of triplets and about 100 pairs of twins a year.

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