Milwulkees awful anti cosleeping ad

[BubblingBrooks]

http://news.yahoo.com/milwaukee-runs-provocative-ads-wake-parents-dangers-co-213117311.html
I cannot believe how misleading this is!

The second-leading cause of infant mortality in Milwaukee is SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, which often results from  ”unsafe sleep,” according to the health department’s website. A form of “unsafe sleep” is bed-sharing with parents.

Why do they have to say that SIDS equals suffocation?

[thegoodearth]

i saw this too. it was on the front cover of yahoo. i didn't read the entire article, but i found the ad to be pretty misleading. i was pretty shocked at the imagery they used. just wow!

[miasandhadleysmom]

This ad makes me so so angry. Have they looked into who has funded all of the studies about this. I am sure it is companies that make baby furniture!

 

[Adaline'sMama]

Not only do I find this ad completely absurd and infuriating, people are reposting it on Facebook to the point where it has made me realize who needs to come off my friends list. I hate the fact that it is getting so much attention and making people question those of us who choose to cosleep safely.

[Arete]

SO counterintuitive: Milwaukee has higher infant death rates than third world countries.  Well OF COURSE!  People co-sleep in third world countries.  Hence, they have lower infant death rates.  Next they'll be saying puppies can't sleep with the mama dog.

[philomom]

I saw it. So terrible.

My second baby was a non-sleeper. Bringing him to bed with me literally saved my life because I was able to get some sleep in between his erratic nighttime napping schedule.


And I don't know about you guys but I used the bed so that he was never in any danger of me over-lying him. I put him closer to the solid headboard and I scooched down. He had his own covers and I had mine. I had pillow, he didn't. And healthy babies protest if you accidentally squeeze them.

[BubblingBrooks]

Originally Posted by philomom 

I saw it. So terrible.
My second baby was a non-sleeper. Bringing him to bed with me literally saved my life because I was able to get some sleep in between his erratic nighttime napping schedule.
And I don't know about you guys but I used the bed so that he was never in any danger of me over-lying him. I put him closer to the solid headboard and I scooched down. He had his own covers and I had mine. I had pillow, he didn't. And healthy babies protest if you accidentally squeeze them.

Ain't that the truth!

If we had not co-slept, we the parents would not have got any sleep for the first few months.
 

[maself]

Oh my gosh!! I just saw this article on Yahoo! and was appalled!!  The picture is just horrific!

[whozeyermamma]

So offensive.

The thing that makes me the most angry is the fact that new moms, especially first-time moms, are so worried to begin with. It's telling them "the thing that feels the most natural to you in the world is dangerous."

Ugh.

[ThinkGlobalMama]

I came over here and logged into my Mothering community (which I haven't done in a LONG time) because of a nasty little debate going on on FB about this. I'm so over it. I too, would like to see who is the sponsor of this so-called public health campaign. Anyone know?  Because the $600 crib that we bought in our pre-baby excitement, never got used anyway, but then was recalled after more than 2 babies died in it as a result of poor construction. (Details are sketchy as the parents have settled out of court, so we really don't know how many babies died.) Simplicity is out of business. Good thing for us, the only thing that slept in it consistently was Bear, Eeyore and Dolly. :-)

The ad is so offensive. Mothering Mag always did a good job of publishing the best research on the real risk factors. Why are people so into these scare tactics? The same people who would criticize me for co-sleeping are the same people who give up on breastfeeding, feed their toddlers crap and over-medicate for "behavior." It's just so irritating.  The trouble is, I feel like "big brother" is watching us all the time too- when ads like this gain pop culture status, those of us who don't fall into line become in danger of being accused of abuse or worse. So while the individuals who disagree with me I can deal with- it is the larger societal implications I struggle with. 

[motherhendoula]

i cant beleive they seem to say that SIDS and suffocation are the same thing...a baby could suffocate in a bed ...(if a drunk  person is maybe also in bed with them and baby is very very young)....any baby can die of SIDS anywhere - unless i have missed something - they really dont know much about WHY SIDS occurs  correct?  

However, they do know that it happens more often in homes where one or more parent smokes  cigarettes.  Maybe Milwaukee should set up a free 'Nicorette smoking cessation" hotline - interesting how that was not mentioned - maybe the picture should have the cute baby cuddled up with a pack of smokes.....

[Partaria]

I'm so glad that someone posted about this here. I live in WI and could not freaking believe this.

First of all, isn't it the case that lower SIDS rates occur when people co-sleep? http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11245994?dopt=Abstract/

Second of all, has any research been done at all to find out how many people in Milwaukee are actually co-sleeping? It seems like there's a HUGE assumption here that b/c the mortality rate is higher, *obviously* it must be a bunch of backward co-sleeping freaks causing the problem. But where's the data to show that there's a correlation between these two things in the Milwaukee population?

Infant mortality can be tied to a number of factors ranging from parents who smoke to children born into impossible poverty. Where's the data on poverty rates and their link to the mortality rate in Milwaukee? Where's the data on how many Milwaukee parents are breastfeeding, or doing other things that help reduce infant mortality rates?

Why didn't the money spent on these stupid ads go to breastfeeding initiatives, infant care education courses, or basic food programs that would provide breastfeeding mamas and babes with decent nutrition?

This just seems like a colossal waste of money and something that is absolutely not evidence based.

As for the idiotic imagery of these ads, I can assure everyone out there that a responsible co-sleeping parent is much, much safer than a meat clever next to a baby in bed. Sheesh.

[redbirdlady]

I did a little Googling, because I couldn't understand why Milwaukee could have such a high rate of infant mortality attributed to co-sleeping.  I found lots of news articles reporting deaths of children.  And in those articles, I found lots of mothers/caregivers who were drinking, lots of babies sleeping with people other than their mothers, lots of deaths that occurred on couches.

It seems that rather than educate women on how to co-sleep APPROPRIATELY, they'd rather just assume that all mothers are stupid and should put their kids in cribs, because they are too ignorant to grasp the concept of safe co-sleeping.

It's akin to abstinence-only education, and it ticks me off.  Especially since I'm 32 weeks pregnant and now I have to listen to uninformed people who see ads like this attack me for co-sleeping.

Oddly enough, the biggest infant mortality problem in Milwaukee isn't co-sleeping, it's deaths attributed to poor health care.

[Partaria]

Oddly enough, the biggest infant mortality problem in Milwaukee isn't co-sleeping, it's deaths attributed to poor health care.

This is totally what I'm saying. Why didn't the time and resources that went into those billboards go into free clinics or helping low income folks access health care?

[APToddlerMama]

Alright, I'll bite.  Having lived in Milwaukee in one of the zip codes the campaign is targeting, and having worked in child welfare there, I don't see a huge problem with their anti-co-sleeping campaign at all.  I'm also a co-sleeper.  Yes, the campaign in simplistic and does not lay out all of the facts, but it targets a specific population and I'm certain it will save lives in Milwaukee.  The city is impoverished with nearly half of children growing up in poverty.  The violent crime rates are high.  Breastfeeding rates are extremely low.  Drug and alcohol abuse rates are very high.  Teen pregnancy rates are high.  None of those things mix that well with *safe* bedsharing.

It would be really great if there could be a comprehensive plan in Milwaukee to teach parents about safely bedsharing, but the resources do not exist.  It would be fantastic if Milwaukee could address their serious issues with poverty, access to health care, breastfeeding, crime, etc., but that is going to take time and why should more babies be suffocated by drunk relatives sleeping on a couch while everyone waits for Milwaukee to make improvements to the quality of life there?  With super low rates of breastfeeding, high rates of addiction, and people just straight up not having access to things like mattresses for mom and baby due to poverty, I can see why people would want to start a campaign that targets the reality of the situation for a significant portion of the population. 

This isn't about crib companies making money or any other silly conspiracy theory.  It is about the well-being of parents and children of a city with a completely unacceptable infant mortality rate.  It turns out it is actually about people who *care* about parents and kids in Milwaukee trying to make a difference in suffocation rates, and who hope fewer parents will wake up to suffocated babies.  If the city had the resources to end poverty, crime, and addiction and support every mother in breastfeeding and other parenting goals, they could work on a more comprehensive plan to educate the public on safe bedsharing.  Obviously they don't, so they're doing what they can to decrease the infant mortality rates which is to throw out a blanket statement that co-sleeping is unsafe.  Which it happens to be for a very large portion of the city. 

Plenty of bedsharing, elitist, middle class faux hippies love to scream about how awful these campaigns are but your reality isn't the reality of plenty of other parents living in Milwaukee and elsewhere. 

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by Partaria 

This is totally what I'm saying. Why didn't the time and resources that went into those billboards go into free clinics or helping low income folks access health care?

Because it isn't just about health care.  The cost of this campaign is probably about 1/10000000th of the cost of changing all the factors that impact safe bedsharing in the city.  They're trying to get the most bang for their buck because they have very limited resources.
 

[APToddlerMama]

Originally Posted by redbirdlady 

It seems that rather than educate women on how to co-sleep APPROPRIATELY, they'd rather just assume that all mothers are stupid and should put their kids in cribs, because they are too ignorant to grasp the concept of safe co-sleeping.

I don't think this campaign is assuming that mothers are too ignorant to grasp the concept of safe bedsharing.  I think that the campaign is addressing the reality that there are a lot of factors that contribute to safe or unsafe beyond just *education.* 

[redbirdlady]

Originally Posted by Partaria 
Where's the data on poverty rates and their link to the mortality rate in Milwaukee?
 

The mortality rate among babies/children in Milwaukee is apparently tied to particular zip codes, and is heavily skewed toward the African American population (which has more than double the mortality rate for babies as Caucasians.  LINK)  Further, the mortality rate there is linked to socioeconomic status (Link for that one - here.)

Based on all of the studies, it looks like Milwaukee's biggest issue in terms of infant mortality is health care, followed by smoking.  There's also alcohol and drug abuse mixed in there as well.  I mean, handing out Pack and Plays is all good, especially since there are people who cannot afford cribs, except when the mom doesn't have access to decent health care, or is drunk.  Because I'm sure someone who has a drinking problem is going to stop before they pass out and think, "I need to put the baby in the Pack and Play before I pass out."  (If you google the news stories for individual deaths, one of them was smothered by a grandmother on a couch who had had EIGHT beers.  I'm sorry, but I don't think it's fair to label something like that a co-sleeping death.)

And after reading all of that data, I'm even more ticked that these morons decided it would be a better idea to have an anti-co-sleeping campaign, rather than focus a campaign on maternal health care, smoking cessation, etc.  I agree with you that the money could have been MUCH better spent elsewhere.

[BubblingBrooks]

Originally Posted by APToddlerMama 

Plenty of bedsharing, elitist, middle class faux hippies love to scream about how awful these campaigns are but your reality isn't the reality of plenty of other parents living in Milwaukee and elsewhere. 

My reality is none of the above. Except for the bed sharing during the early months of our babies life.

Again, they should not have played the SIDS card. It is unbelievably misleading.

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by APToddlerMama 

Plenty of bedsharing, elitist, middle class faux hippies love to scream about how awful these campaigns are but your reality isn't the reality of plenty of other parents living in Milwaukee and elsewhere. 

To be fair, this doesnt even remotely apply to some of the people concerned about this ad. Honestly, this ad has been all over facebook and I have had to defend cosleeping to several of my family members and middle class, faux hippy friends. Ive seen several people put it up on their facebooks and blogs with comments like "Hello! This is why cribs were invented..." or "I breastfed my kid for two years and never ever let him sleep in our bed even though it would have been more convenient. Safety first!" No, this is why drug and alcohol intervention programs were invented.

I understand that Milwaukee has a ridiculously high rate of infant death, but this ad has gone far and wide and at this point, it is all over the country on social media form. And it sucks. Ill bet it wont really help the death rate that much, and there will be a lot of terrified first time moms who are already having to defend their decision to co sleep to their husband or other family members. All Im saying is, I dont think the target audience is the one that is going to be the most affected by this ad.