In addition to all the other very scary news in the world today, two stories of co-sleeping with infants ending in tragedy bring that topic back into clear focus as deserving of debate.

From Evansville, Indiana, a report of a two-month old baby who died in his parent's bed after his one-year old sister rolled onto him. The cause of death was listed as "postitional asphyxiation".

The boy's mother, 24-year-old Tosha Brooks, said she had slept with all of her seven children when they were infants and never had any problems.

"I've never rolled on my kids," she said. "I've never done nothing. But for some reason, I didn't feel (Madison) climbing into that bed."

More children per capita die in Indiana each year because of accidental suffocation than anywhere else in the country, said Susan Bonhotal, coordinator of the Southwestern Indiana Regional Perinatal Advisory Board, which tracks infant mortality rates.

While in California, a newborn died of apparent suffocation while sleeping with his parents IN THE HOSPITAL. How does this happen?

The child had been sleeping in a bed at Torrance Memorial Medical Center with his parents, both juveniles who have not been named.

'The father put the baby on a pillow on his chest,' said Torrance Police Officer Dave Crespin. 'Mom woke up at 2:30 a.m. and found the baby in between both of them. The baby was not breathing.'

The Indiana report says that in three years, twelve infants have died of "unsafe sleeping practices" in the county where this latest death occurred and quotes an official from the coroners office saying, "the odds are too great" to chance sleeping with kids.

I have to question those "odds", as I wonder how many babies born in those same three years survived the parental bed, and perhaps there were even some who were saved from other dangers by being close to mom and dad through the night.

These stories are tragic, no doubt, but I'm not convinced that co-sleeping is a bad thing to do in every case. When making a decision on sleeping arrangements, there are many personal factors to consider, a lot of opinions to sort through and much information on the topic. In adoptive families, especially, the dangers arising from fractures in the bonding process may offset the risk.