I gotta join the parade of “what was that all about?” This column was a complete waste. Thanks for the people who posted in the thread.
Well, someone thought that it was enough of a perceived problem to patent something to prevent it. Check out:
http://www.invention.com/rodgers.htm
If you care to.
-bs-
Well, add me to the list of people who thought this column was a complete waste of space.
Evan London wrote:
I feel compelled to point out that these risks also exist when the infant sleeps in a crib or cradle. All the baby stores sell “crib sets” with big puffy comforters to match the bumper pads and crib skirts. They are just as dangerous as the comforter on your bed. You should also never put a pillow or any large, soft plush toy in the crib with your baby. A mattress that does not fit the crib snuggly or slats that are too far apart pose a risk as well. The unfortunate deaths that caused the window blind manufacturers to offer separate blind cords (rather than the former loop) and to warn parents to coil the cords away out of reach occurred when children, unattended in their cribs, got the cords wrapped around their necks and choked to death. One must be careful to make whatever place the baby sleeps as safe as possible.
Provided you sleep on a firm mattress with light coverings, no extra pillows, and you are not inebriated or on medication that causes you to be drowsy/dopey, your baby is just as safe in your bed as in a crib.
Our children all slept with us, esp. as young infants, because it was so much easier to nurse them, and because they slept better. When our oldest was just weeks old, I sat up in bed and grabbed her out of the cradle next to me, saying “she stopped breathing!” We’ll never know if she really had, or if I was just having a nightmare, but I always felt safer when I could listen to my babies while they slept.
As I said before,the American Academy of Pediatricians reccomends that a baby should sleep in a crib without any pillows, blankets, or stuffed animals in bed with it due to the asphyxiation risk. We have one of these “crib sets” too. The blanket hangs on the wall near the crib where she can see it, not in the bed.
**
Also, as I pointed out before, I don’t care how safe YOU feel or how much better YOU feel about sleeping with you baby. The plain fact is that there is a risk of suffocation. Thin sheets and pillows aside, the risk that your baby will turn over on it’s front in your bed is higher than if it is in a crib. Many studies show that a baby sleeping on its front is many times more likely to die of SIDS than one lying on it’s back. I don’t think anyone should under any circumstances take a risk to a child’s life that is easily avoided. The baby will get used to sleeping in the crib and you will get used to it sleeping there as well. I had this same conversation with my wife when our one year old girl was born. What you want or how you feel is irrelevant when child safety in involved. There’s only one question you need to ask, “Does this increase the risk of injury or death to your child?”. If the answer is yes, as it is in this case, I would recommend you avoid doing so.
Addressing the breast feeding issue, my wife breast fed out little girl. It was just a little harder to pick up the baby up from the crib, feed it on her side in bed, and then put the baby back in the crib, than just having the baby there already. I think the baby’s safety is worth the effort, don’t you???
There’s lots of things you’ll have to get used to being a parent. Loosing some sleep, putting in the extra effort for their security, and a whole long list of other things. This is as good a time to start as any.
Ev
First Point: Cecile, shame on you! Lots of people are seriously concerned about the benefits/hazards of co-sleeping and you gave them a dog biscuit. I suggest a rewrite of your lame answer pronto.
Second point: SLEEP WITH YOUR BABIES!!!
Science has screwed over Americans in so many ways, it’s depressing. Scientists find out that smoking and drinking moms and dads are (once in a great while) killing their babies. So instead of telling them to shape up and get rid of the drugs and booz and cigs what do they say? Everyone put your kids in a cold and lonely crib! Do these doctors stop to consider what that does to the emotional development of your child? All things equal, is there any real benefit to having baby outside the bed?
I’m a father of four and the more I learn about kids, the more important I believe it is to nuture them in every way you can while they are young. Co-sleeping is a great thing for both you and your kids. I used to thrash and kick horribly in bed until my wife had a baby, then the thrashing and kicking suddenly stopped. The human brain is an amazing thing. Don’t be afraid to treat your children as you feel you should naturally.
-e
Can I play outside, Daddy?
Can I have a bike, Daddy?
Can I go to school, Daddy?
Can I get a driver’s license, Daddy?
Can I be allowed to walk, Daddy?
You get the point: life is risk. The real question is how significantly any course of action alters the risks for that child – in relation to expected norms. I haven’t seen anyone, Cecil included, presenting any facts about the risks involved in co-sleeping. And without those facts, we’re all just guessing.
I note I’m not the first to express some dismay at Unca Cece’s latest column.
I find his “humor” answers to be one of his best characteristics ("…you’d be General Mills" “…pieces of dead cow”), but they’re usually one squiblet leading a longer piece, or a jumping-off point to a more serious discussion. This column is neither.
Is it just me, or are Cecil’s columns getting shorter, lighter, vaguer and in general less solid and satisfying as his older work? When his entire column consists of this vague Biblical allusion, followed by a one-line dismissal of same, without any particular facts, opinions, or humor, and then… that’s it! End of column, kids!.. well…
Wow. Bummer.
BTW, our 7mo twins have slept in our bed many times and we’ve never worried about crushing or smothering them in our sleep. There’s a parental radar at work that alerts us even to things like the sheet falling across their faces. (Said radar was honed by the first four children.)
I have to say that I think the risk may outweigh the benefits on this one. My grandparents’ first children were twin girls, one of whom died when my grandfather rolled over her in his sleep. (BTW: my grandparents did not drink, do drugs, etc.)
I understand that years ago, several other (overlooked or misunderstood) things could been the cause of death, and overlying simply the more obvious answer. But I think it is enough of a possibility to seriously consider. I can’t count the number of times I’ve rolled into an awkward position in the middle of the night and then woken to an arm or hand that has totally “fallen asleep” If I can lie on my own arm long enough to lose all sensation in it, I imagine that I could do the same thing to an infant.
Also, I’ve seen posts indicating that since people don’t roll over onto their partners, or out of the bed, it isn’t a danger with a child. I don’t know where everybody learned such a peaceful slumber, but I HAVE rolled into my wife. I’ve also hit her while thrashing and rolled out of bed (but not very often). Bear in mind, the whole idea is that you are ASLEEP when you roll onto the child. If you are asleep, and your partner is asleep, who’s going to remember if you bump in the middle of the night. 
(slight pun intended)
Seriously though, contact that won’t wake you or your partner may be enough to suffocate a child. If you don’t believe you thrash, roll, etc. in your sleep, try videotaping a night’s rest and playing it back on fast forward - it’s an interesting experiment. Remember, it only has to happen once…
Anyway, just my $.02. I also think that there are a lot of benefits to sleeping with your child, so I guess it’s a judgement call. Just make sure you’re weighing ALL the risks.
Mark
Yes, as long as an adult can keep an eye on you.
Yes, as long as you wear your helmet and ride out of the street and while you have adult supervision.
Sending you child to school is not an option, as it is required by law in the US until the age 16. But Home Schooling is very popular here in Maryland.
Yes you can. But, like my dad did for me, will take you to a professional driving school which stresses emergency evasion techniques and proper driving skills. Can your say Skip Barber School of performance driving? But you are not, under any circumstances, allowed in a car driven by young adult. Here’s a cell phone. Call me any time of the day or night and I’ll be ther to take you anywhere you want go.
Yes, but not to date until your 55.
**
When I was in grad school I took a class on Risk Management. The tool frequently used is as I stated above. Is there risks involved in x endeavor? What are they? An I willing to pay the price for the benefit?
In terms of my kids life over some vaguely proposed unproven psychological benefit and my own comfort. I’m not willing to take the risk of my baby’s death. Simple and plain as day.
**
As for facts here they are:
Title: Babies sleeping with parents: case-control study of factors influencing the risk of the sudden infant death syndrome. CESDI SUDI research group.
Cite: BMJ 1999 Dec 4; 319 (7223): 1457-61
ABST: OBJECTIVE: To investigate the risks of the sudden infant death syndrome and factors that may contribute to unsafe sleeping environments. DESIGN: Three year, population based case-control study. Parental interviews were conducted for each sudden infant death and for four controls matched for age, locality, and time of sleep. SETTING: Five regions in England with a total population of over 17 million people. SUBJECTS: 325 babies who died and 1300 control infants. RESULTS: In the multivariate analysis infants who shared their parents’ bed and were then put back in their own cot had no increased risk (odds ratio 0.67; 95% confidence interval 0.22 to 2.00). There was an increased risk for infants who shared the bed for the whole sleep or were taken to and found in the parental bed (9.78; 4.02 to 23.83), infants who slept in a separate room from their parents (10.49; 4.26 to 25.81), and infants who shared a sofa (48.99; 5.04 to 475.60). The risk associated with being found in the parental bed was not significant for older infants (>14 weeks) or for infants of parents who did not smoke and became non-significant after adjustment for recent maternal alcohol consumption (>2 units), use of duvets (>4 togs), parental tiredness (infant slept </=4 hours for longest sleep in previous 24 hours), and overcrowded housing conditions (>2 people per room of the house). CONCLUSIONS: There are certain circumstances when bed sharing should be avoided, particularly for infants under four months old. Parents sleeping on a sofa with infants should always be avoided. There is no evidence that bed sharing is hazardous for infants of parents who do not smoke.
CONCLUSION: For parents who smoke sharing a bedwith an infants (< 14 weeks) increased the risk of death by 4x . But isn’t increased under normal conditions.(point ceded)
Title: Review of hazards associated with children placed in adult beds [see comments].
Cite: Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1999 Oct; 153 (10): 1019-23
ABST: OBJECTIVES: To identify and assess dangers associated with placing children younger than 2 years to sleep in adult beds. This article focuses on overlying, wedging, and strangulation hazards and the relationship of these hazards to children’s sleeping environments. DESIGN: A retrospective review and analysis of data collected by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on deaths of children younger than 2 years in standard adult beds, daybeds, and waterbeds. The review included incident data from January 1990 through December 1997. RESULTS: The 8-year records showed a total of 515 deaths of children younger than 2 years who were placed to sleep on adult beds. Of these deaths, 121 were reported to be due to overlying of the child by a parent, other adult, or sibling sleeping in bed with the child and 394 were due to entrapment in the bed structure. Most of these deaths seem to have resulted from suffocation or strangulation caused by entrapment of the child’s head in various structures of the bed. CONCLUSIONS: Placing children younger than 2 years to sleep in adult beds exposes them to potentially fatal hazards that are generally not recognized by the parent or caregiver. These hazards include overlying by a parent, sibling, or other adult sharing the bed; entrapment or wedging of the child between the mattress and another object; head entrapment in bed railings; and suffocation on waterbeds. Parents and caregivers should be alerted to these avoidable hazards.
CONCLUSION:I Seven years, 515 children were killed while sharing a parental bed. All were due to suffocation or entrapment. 515 CHILDREN!!!
TITL: Infant mechanical suffocation deaths in the United States, 1980-1997
AUTH: Drago DA; Dannenberg AL
CITE: Pediatrics 1999 May; 103 (5): e59
ABST: PURPOSE: To document specific patterns and products associated with mechanical suffocation among infants younger than 13 months of age for the period 1980 to 1997. METHODOLOGY: A total 2178 case summaries from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission’s Death Certificate File were reviewed. A computerized database was created for information about the infants, products, and patterns of suffocation. The relationships among products, patterns, and age groups were analyzed by chi2. Thirty-eight investigations conducted on a subset of cases involving cribs were reviewed for details on crib age, structural integrity, and compliance with the federal crib regulation. Mortality rates were calculated based on the US population younger than 1 year old. RESULTS: The most frequent causes of suffocation were 1) wedging between a bed or mattress and a wall and 2) oronasal obstruction by plastic bag. Patterns of suffocation were significantly related to age group, but not to sex. Pattern-specific mortality rates comparing three time frames for the the 16-year period from 1980 to 1995 showed continued increases for overlain and oronasal obstruction; an increase followed by a plateau for wedging, a decrease for hanging, and no substantial change for entrapment with suspension. CONCLUSIONS: Suffocation hazards presented by beds, bedding, pillows, and plastic bags continue to be underrecognized by parents and caregivers. Bed-sharing and use of adult beds for infants should be discouraged. Only complying cribs should be used and maintained properly to ensure structural integrity. Suffocation deaths involving plastics should be investigated to determine the specific material characteristics and use patterns to design more effective interventions than selective labeling.
CONCLUSION: Suffocation by bedding or bed structures was the #1 cause of suffocation death in children under 13 months old.
TITL: Side sleeping position and bed sharing in the sudden infant death syndrome. 41 REFS
CITE: Ann Med 1998 Aug; 30 (4): 345-9
ABST: In the last decade there have been major reductions in the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) rate following prevention programmes in Australasia, Europe and North America, mainly due to changing infants from the prone sleeping position onto their sides or backs. This report reviews previous SIDS observational studies with data on side sleeping position and bed sharing. The relative risk for SIDS calculated from previous studies for side vs back sleeping position is 2.02 (95% CI = 1.68, 2.43). This result suggests that further substantial decreases in SIDS could be expected if infants were placed to sleep on their backs. With regard to bed sharing, the summary SIDS relative risk is 2.06 (1.70, 2.50) for infants of smoking mothers and 1.42 (1.12, 1.79) for infants of nonsmoking mothers. Public health policy should be directed against bed sharing by infants whose mothers smoke as they carry an increased risk of SIDS from bed sharing in addition to their already increased risk from maternal smoking. **For infants of nonsmoking mothers, who have a low absolute risk of SIDS, the 40-50% increase in risk needs to be balanced against other perceived benefits from bed sharing, such as increased breastfeeding. **
CONCLUSION: Even for non-smoking mthers, there is a 40% increase
Thereare A LOT more references. Simply go the the Narional LIbrary of Medicine web site and do a med line search using the terms (bed and death and infant). You’ll be suprised by how many articles pop up. The evidence is very clear. Sleeping with your baby puts your child at risk, don’t do it.
Ev
There is a wonderful apocryphal story about a science experiment and the conclusions drawn from it.
The researcher is studying frogs. The experiment was to determine how a frog behaves when its legs are removed. For a base line the researcher makes a loud noise behind the frog and the frog jumps 1 meter. Next the experimenter removes the frog’s right front leg and repeats the experiment. This time the frog only jumps .5 meters. Another leg is removed and the distance jumped again decreases. This continues and finally the researcher removes the last leg and the frog does not jump at all.
The researcher draws his conclusion from this data. His conclusion is that a frog with no legs is deaf.
In this thread Evan London reaches the same sort of counterintuitive conclusion based on the presented evidence:
“There are some reports of infants being suffocated by overlying by an adult, particularly when the adult is in an unnaturally depressed state of consciousness, such as from alcohol or mind-altering drugs.”
“The risk of SIDS associated with co-sleeping is significantly greater among smokers.”
“Others (studies) [n52] have shown bed sharing with multiple family members in an adult bed to be particularly hazardous for the infant. Although overlying may be the mechanism in some of these cases, soft sleep surfaces, entrapment, and the likelihood of rolling to the prone position in such circumstances also may have a role.”
Or to sum all of this up
- Drunks, drug users and smokers are hazardous to the health their babies. Wow big surprise there.
- Putting a baby to sleep ANYWHERE that there are soft surfaces or small spaces where they can be entrapped is hazardous. Again, big surprise.
- Always put a baby to sleep on its back! Whatever bed you use. Duh!
None of these conclusions has anything to do with adult beds. All of the items that are listed as hazards would be hazards whether the baby was sleeping in an adult bed, a crib, the floor, etc.
Any parent who is not constantly on the look out for the hazards that are mentioned above is a bad parent. To suggest that one venue, the adult bed, cannot be safety checked is absurd. Wherever your baby is sleeping or playing you need to be aware of the same hazards and reduce or remove them as much as is possible.
There are very safe ways to have your baby sleep with you. Don’t smoke. Don’t drink. Don’t do drugs. Don’t put a baby down to sleep on a soft surface (comforter, featherbed, pillow, etc) Don’t put a baby down to sleep where it might slip into a tight space (behind a bed, behind furniture cushions, etc.) Always put a baby on its back to sleep. Follow these rules and put your baby down to sleep wherever you want. You can co-sleep with out fear. You just need to take the same precautions you would putting your baby down to sleep anywhere else. The issue is not what physical object you put your child on to sleep it is HOW you put them down to sleep.
The truth is that co-sleeping is not discouraged because it is not safe. Many people have a great deal of money at stake in this question. An adult bed manufacturer requested the Pediatrics organization report that came out against co-sleeping for example. Was this because these manufacturers wanted to safeguard their customers? Well no, they wanted to indemnify themselves from lawsuits. Now if an infant were to die in an adult bed the parents cannot sue the manufacturer claiming that it is an unsafe product.
Would you like a list of things that are all more hazardous than co-sleeping for a baby?
Here is a short list
- Riding anywhere in a car in a correctly installed, government approved car seat.
- Sitting in a high chair.
- Drinking dairy based baby formulas
- Living in a house with a smoker.
- Being sent to day care.
- Living in a house with a pet.
To further quote from Evan London:
" So, as a scientist myself, I get this information out of the preceeding (sic) statement: Don’t sleep with your infant! If there is only the slightest risk of your child dying, either due to entrapment, smothering on soft sleeping surfaces, or rolling into the prone (face down position) why risk it? You’ll be awfully sorry if you (sic) child died and you knew the risks before hand! Keep that baby in the basinet (sic) or crib. Don’t put your baby ar (sic) risk for your own deisre (sic) to share the bed with your baby. It’s time to start putting your baby’s safety and well being before your own desires."
By this same logic you need to stop driving anywhere with your baby. Don’t use a high chair. Don’t use baby formula. Don’t use day care. Get rid of your pet. You now know that all of these behaviors put your child at a greater risk than co-sleeping and, " You’ll be awfully sorry if you (sic) child died and you knew the risks before hand!"
Again, the issue is absolutely NOT what physical object your baby sleeps on. That is irrelevant. The issue is HOW you put your baby down to sleep, whatever object you decide to use for the purpose.
First of all, sorry about the triple post. (moderator note: I deleted two of the posts in the trifecta) Don’t know what that was but my system did crash part way through trying to post the first time.
Now on to “More Bad Science from Evan London”
I his last post the first study shows that when you take out all of the known dangerous behavior there is NO difference in the statistics for co-sleeping as opposed to crib use. He then goes on to post the results of three studies that don’t differentiate cases as the first one did and proceeds use these as evidence that co-sleeping is bad! How ridiculous! The findings from the first one can certainly be extrapolated to the others.
The first study made the same case I did in my first post. It is not where your baby sleeps that effects how safe it is, but rather HOW your baby is put down to sleep that has an impact on safety. I’m sure these other studies would agree but they didn’t bother to eliminate the cases where other factors were present.
(edited to add comment about why there is no longer a triple post)
[Edited by Arnold Winkelried on 10-11-2000 at 10:35 AM]
Hrrmmmppphhhh…I go thru all the trouble of beating Arnold to the link in the second post of the thread and what happens? He just has to come along and post it anyways. Fine see if I help you again.
I swear, when I posted that originally the here was a hyperlink. Stupid VB code grrrrrrr
Degrance has already answered Evan London’s long post, though perhaps in a slightly different way than I would have.
Evan, thanks for the real research – it is helpful. But Degrance is right; from the abstracts you quoted, it appears that only the first of the four studies you cited controlled for other risk factors. And, with those other factors accounted for, the marginal risk of co-sleeping appears to be extrememly minimal, if existent at all.
The largest risks are improper bedding, caretakers who are incapacitated, and infants put down to sleep on their stomachs. Compared to those, the risks of co-sleeping don’t seem to be above the noise level. Therefore, taking a strong stand against co-sleeping is not justified by the data.
And the reason I posted the deliberately provocative list of questions was due to your sweeping statement:
All of the normal childhood activities I mentioned greatly increase the risk of injury or death, but I see from your reply that you don’t believe they should be abolished. Bicycle riding in particular raises children’s risks of serious injury greatly, but that’s why helmet laws are so common – to mimimize the risk in a way that allows normal life to comtinue. Not to put words in your mouth, but you do seem to agree that only significant changes in risk levels – relative to the normal risks of childhood in that particular society – should receive this level of concern. And, again, the studies you cite, when controlled for other risk factors, do not show a siginificant increased risk from co-sleeping, independent of other risk factors.
Crud! I wrote a very long post in response to Degrance’s post. It apparently didn’t show up here and I don’t know why. I just don’t have the time and enrgy to rewrite it. But I wil try to address what I can without taking too much time here. Allow me to take another direction here. I will concede that there is insuffcicent evidence that under special conditions where bedding is approperiate, the parents are neither inebriated nor smokers, and the bed itself is safe, that the risk of infant death is mitigated. **BUT ** I am of the opinion that the average parent is under-educated about children safety issues and is either unable or unwilling to put forth the effort and expense of properly assuring their child’s safety over their own wants and needs. I drive around and see the majority of kids in cars in my area without booster seats or even safety belts! I see kids riding their bikes in the street unattended. I see infants in houses without window and stair gates. I see this ALL THE TIME. What makes you think that the average person is going to get rid of their comfy quilts, and extra pillows and make sure their bed is a safe place? And stop smoking and drinking? HA! Gimme a break. They don’t and they wont. That’s why there were so many infant deaths due to co sleeping. Even one is too many, folks. Given that on average, most parents do not make to effort to take safety measures that can safe gaurd their children without some warning or guideance, let alone legal intervention, I think it absolutely appropriate for the various societies and agencies to make their recommendations against co-sleeping with an infant.
Yes there are certain populations that can and do co-sleep safely, and they know who they are. But For those that tout it as safe, I think they are doing the public a disservice but telling other portions of the population who are not going to take the appropriate measures to safegaurd their kids that it is perfectly safe to do so.
Ev
Nanook of the North Shore, a thousand apologies! I read through the posts quickly and didn’t notice your link. It is members like you that make the moderator’s job a joy. Everyone, please note that Nanook (can I call you Nanook) helped out here by providing the link, and s/he is a shining example to us all.
Evan London, I know all too well the pain of losing a long post. May I suggest composing all long posts in a mini-text editor such as Notepad on the Macintosh or WordPad on the PC, and copying and pasting into the browser window. This method has saved my derrière many a time.
moderator, “Comments on Cecil’s Columns” forum
Before the baby was born, I did some reading on the subject. It’s terrible, but I can’t remember where I read the story about the family who all slept together, and the father choked the 4-yo son by throwing his arm across the boy’s neck. So I can’t provide a citiation, sorry. But I have found that it’s awfully easy to put an arm where it shouldn’t be and not notice.
Seems to me that it would be equally easy to draw the covers up around you to get warm and snuggly without noticing that the baby is now under the covers. Many babies would not wake and cry out or struggle, because they would (surprise) be unable to breathe. When our 3-month old baby was new, I tried nursing her in bed, but a few times dozed off–after all, I was an exhausted new mom–and woke up with my hand over her face or a thumb in her eye. I stopped nursing lying down.
She’s much better off in the crib, where nothing can get her. She enjoys playing quietly and practicing new skills when she wakes up, and lets us know when she gets lonely or hungry. It’s easy to go in and feed her–she only wakes up once a night anyway. We’re very attached to each other, she’s cheerful and cute and right on track. I don’t think it has traumatized her to be in her own bed.
So–if you think it’s a good idea to sleep with your baby, fine. But I don’t think it’s safe.
So Evan, your logic is that because some people are either insufficiently educated or insufficiently concerned for their children’t welfare, we should lie to the general public and insist that co-sleeping is, in and of itself, a dangerous activity?
How about a widespread campaign to educate parents on how to co-sleep safely? Yes, I’m sure that there is a segment of the population too stupid or too stubborn to listen, but what makes you think they listened to the widely publicized exaggerations and misinformation about co-sleeping in the first place? It is absolutely true that some people will simply do what they want, whether it is or isn’t in the best interests of their children. Some people will continue to drive without carseats and safety belts, some kids will be allowed to ride their bikes without helmets and some people will neglect to put bars on their open windows. All we can do, as a society, is give them as much information as possible and hope for the best.
Why not just bend the truth and tell people that cribs are always safer? The fact is that there are benefits to co-sleeping, particularly in the first months, that should not be overlooked. Co-sleeping encourages regular nursing, which is vital in the first weeks for establishing milk supplies. The infant who can wake up, nurse, and go back to sleep in the space of 20 min., with barely a cry, is probably happier than one who must come fully awake and cry loudly enough to awaken his parents in another room. The practise of creating separate sleeping rooms for infants is a very recent one and not necessarily the best choice. This article, and this one offer reasons to sleep with your babies.
“But For those that tout it as safe, I think they are doing the public a disservice but telling other portions of the population who are not going to take the appropriate measures to safegaurd their kids that it is perfectly safe to do so.”
I have no idea who Evan is addressing this to. I have talked to co-sleeping families on line and in person and the first thing anybody brings up to people who want to try it is how to do it safely.
Right now co-sleeping is frowned upon by our society. People do it out of desperation and are afraid to talk about it. The very reason that it is so unsafe is because it is discouraged. People decide that they want to use this method and try to get information about it. Instead they get prejudice and opposition. They therefore stop talking about it and just muddle through doing the best they know how. If co-sleeping could instead be presented as an option with warnings on what to avoid then people could have a conversation about it and find what safeguards to use. The same has been done by the “back to sleep” campaign for SIDS. The same has been done in getting people to keep comforters and pillows out of cribs.
My wife was talking about an unrelated issue to one of the D.O.s at the clinic we use. She mentioned in passing that she was co-sleeping and without blinking the D.O. blurted out, “Well that will have to stop!” No dialog, no questions, no advise. No wonder so many parents are under educated on the correct way to co-sleep.
Many parents particularly those with high need babies find co-sleeping about the only way to survive. Many mothers would have to get out of bed 10-12 time a night if they were to use a crib. Evan states several times that parents shouldn’t put their wants and needs ahead of their childs safety. I agree. Think about it. Is it safer to co-sleep or to have a mother opperating on 1 hour of sleep caring for a high need baby for 10 hours straight? I think the answer is obvious.
For these parents who find they want or need to co-sleep there should be rational helpful sourses of information not a bunch of uninformed reactionaries spouting what their grannies learned back in the 40s & 50s.
I cannot agree with Evan’s conclution that all parents should be told, “DON’T EVER PUT YOUR BABY IN BED WITH YOU!” and just let his, “certain populations that can and do co-sleep safely” keep doing it but shut up about it. This practise needs to take its place beside all the other choices parents make about raising their children. Accurate information needs to be avaialable. Parents need to be able to ask for advise about this and get more than, “DON’T DO IT!” as a response from their parents, doctors, nurses, etc.
The practise of co-sleeping is slowly coming out of the closet. It is not the first NEW thing to hit the child reaering scene lately. New fangled ideas like breast milk being better than formula. Children nursing until they are 3-4 years old instead of weaning after 4 months. Mothers actually touching their babies in the hospital. Responding to a baby under 1 year of age rather than letting them “cry it out.” Holding your baby as much as possible rather than keeping them in a crib/playpen/bassinette for fear of “spoiling” them. These all fall into the class of natural parenting. These are the things a parent does
For what it’s worth, there was a case of this happening reported in the British press today. Here’s a link to the BBC story.
Apparently, the coroner in the case said he had “come across many cases where babies had died after becoming trapped underneath sleeping parents.”