Our local NPR station aired a story this week about how the infant sleep related death rate is higher in our city than the national average. Of course they had a representative from a local agency come on and tell everyone not to bedshare.
This was the email I sent the station:
I would have gone into more detail about it all, but DH didn't figure they'd actually read it if it was too long. So I just included what I felt were the most important and significant points.
This was the email I sent the station:
Quote:
| Yesterday as I was getting to work a story about infant sleep in Tulsa piqued my interest and I stayed in my car to listen to it, even though I was already running late. The part that I listened most closely to was the recommendation against bed-sharing. I am a breastfeeding mother to a toddler and made the conscious and informed choice to bedshare. And I believe there is more to the story about bed-sharing than what you presented in your report. I did research (reading articles by Dr. James McKenna, Dr. William Sears, and Dr. Jay Gordon, notably) on the matter, and the research that I read led me to the conclusion that bed-sharing can be done safely and that it has important benefits. And based on my research, I had a few questions about your report, and I'm hoping that you can look into them and provide KWGS listeners with some clarity and a bigger picture. In all of the cases of infant death in a bed-sharing situation in Tulsa, how many of those infants were exclusively breast fed for at least 6 months? How many of those cases involved extended breastfeeding? How many of those cases occured with a parent who is a non smoker, does not go to bed intoxicated, and who is not obese? Conversely, how many of those bed-sharing deaths occured in situations where the baby is formula fed, one or both parents smoke, a parent went to bed intoxicated, or one or both parents is obese? How many of those situations occured on a couch or a water bed or in a bed with lots of pillows and bedding? How many of these cases occured in a pverty-stricken situation? How many of those situations occured when a pet or toddler was present? What is the rate of infants dying alone in their own cribs compared to infants dying in bed with their parents (when all other variables are equal)? Finally, since the sleep related deaths in Tulsa are higher than the national average, I am curious how the breastfeeding, smoking, alcoholism, poverty, and obesity rates in Tulsa compare to the national average? These are the main factors that affect the safety or danger of a bed sharing situation. One fact that I found particularly interesting when I was doing my research (and that is very rarely mentioned in stories about infant sleep death) is that cultures in which bed sharing is the norm have the lowest SIDS rates (even when you allow for differences in SIDS definitions). I believe that it would be more helpful for health and safety professionals to focus on learning from those cultures and then teaching Americans how to safely bed-share rather than to lay out blanket policies against bed-sharing. Thank you for your time, my name |
