ARGGH!! New AAP recommendation against co-sleeping

[Quirky]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...100901598.html

To minimize the risk of crib death, the nation's largest organization of pediatricians is recommending that babies be put to sleep with pacifiers and in their own beds, despite intense opposition from advocates of breast-feeding and the "family bed."

The American Academy of Pediatrics, hoping to settle some of the most hotly debated and emotional issues related to the care of newborns, is for the first time endorsing routine pacifier use and explicitly advocating a ban on babies sleeping with their parents. In both cases, evidence suggests the precautions would cut the risk of suffocation, the group said.

[dillonandmarasmom]

Did you see the Early Show seg this morning???

Oh My G*D!!

[JamesMama]

I saw that today. Yeah, I'm sure babies die due to UNSAFE cosleeping. But done safely there is no more danger than crib sleeping.

I guess on the plus side they did advocate rooming in.

[bean0322]

I wonder if any of the researchers have ever co-slept with infants/babies/children themselves? I'm guessing they have not. I sleep in such a different way if my child is in bed with me. It's automatic -- your body knows the baby is there and responds...doesn't it?

I didn't see the segment on tv but did read the article in the newspaper. Now I'm just waiting for all the phone calls from family and friends telling us how wrong we are for our choice. :

[dnr3301]

I was just popping in here to see if anyone else had read this yet. I expected outrage, yet there are only 3 posts. Come on people!

I really hope Mothering and API come out with some sort of statement agaist this ridiculous assessment. Oh, and LLL, they should be upset too. Routine paci use as well as sleeping alone.

Geeeez, how did we make it this far without the AAP to guide us? Humans have been surviving for a long time without thier reccommendations.

This right here is why I hesitate to use "The AAP says it's fine" for a pro-breast feeding argument, they say lots of stuff I don't pay attention to.

And you know all those peds who have been ignoring the AAP's statements about pro-bfing and anti-RICing are going to be standing on the rooftops yelling at mamas all over the place not to sleep with their babies. Good grief, I can't take this. It's making me nuts-o.

AND!! they suggest to avoid that flat head we are all so worried about: put baby to sleep with head facing one way for one week, then switch it to facing the other way for the next week. Darn those babies who try to move their own heads and get in our way of beig the perfect "AAP" parent. grrrrrr.

[jenoline]

Originally Posted by bean0322

I wonder if any of the researchers have ever co-slept with infants/babies/children themselves? I'm guessing they have not. I sleep in such a different way if my child is in bed with me. It's automatic -- your body knows the baby is there and responds...doesn't it?

I didn't see the segment on tv but did read the article in the newspaper. Now I'm just waiting for all the phone calls from family and friends telling us how wrong we are for our choice. :

: I'm so disugsted with this recomendation. And then there is this quote from the article

It remains unclear why pacifiers help, but some research suggests it might affect babies' sleep patterns in ways that allow them to awaken more easily.

Hmm...kind of like BREASTFEEDING? Arrghh

[elmh23]

I didn't really see it all and I haven't read the new guidlines, but anyone else wonder why they call it "crib death" in the first place if that's where the baby is safest? Either way, it won't stop me from co-sleeping and I won't offer paci's until bfeeding is well established (my daughter was a sucker, but wouldn't take one, when she was little little, I wish she would.)

[shayinme]

: Totally disgusted with the recommendations.

Shay

[Nitenites]

Originally Posted by elmh23

I didn't really see it all and I haven't read the new guidlines, but anyone else wonder why they call it "crib death" in the first place if that's where the baby is safest?

That was my first thought, too.

What about those of us who use ecological breastfeeding? What about all the studies by James McKenna?

As for what my ped says, I don't ask her where (or with whom) she sleeps, so I figure my kids sleeping locale is none of her business.

[BetsyPage]

Oh, I just don't get it at all! Where is the head-banging emoticon?

They say...

Consider offering a pacifier at nap time and bedtime: The pacifier should be used when placing infant down for sleep and not be reinserted once the infant falls asleep.

Ummm, how in the world is this better than nursing them to sleep? So, instead of nursing my baby to sleep I should just stick a paci in??? OK, I have just decided that these people are IDIOTS. I usually do not get worked up about stuff like this, but really, it is just ridiculous.

[ceilydhmama]

:
I'm speechless. How sad for yet another generation of babies...

[slightlycrunchyann]

I hopefully await the day when co-sleeping is embraced by the AAP and everyone "mainstream." Today, I am sad. So many mothers will avoid co-sleeping while they drive themselves nuts trying to get their newborn baby to sleep in a crib or bassinet when all that baby wants is to be beside Mama.

I hope that one day this becomes like bf used to be, from shunned to being considered the best.

[Jenivere]

I am angry and speechless. What an idiotic reccomendation!

[Lula's Mom]

ARGH I just saw this on my local news... the teaser said "New recommendations on sleeping for babies, that may surprise you!" Silly me! I thought it might be that they'd relaxed the back-to-sleep thing, realized that tummy-sleeping is not the problem... but no. They have come down on side-sleeping, and recommend pacifiers for all?!? : That makes no sense!

As someone noted above, pacifiers are a substitute for breastfeeding, a natural way for the babe to regulate the depth of his sleep- and best accomplished through co-sleeping.

What drives me nuts is that they don't even know what causes "crib death", yet they just make these willy-nilly recommendations. From the MSNBC article:

"Over 2,000 babies a year are still dying. We should be able to do something about that,” said Dr. John Kattwinkel of the University of Virginia, chairman of the academy’s SIDS task force.

Doctors think actual numbers are higher because some true SIDS deaths are being blamed on other causes, said Moon, a SIDS researcher at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Data suggest, for example, that accidental suffocation, which is hard to distinguish from SIDS, has increased in recent years, Moon said.

Doctors aren’t sure about SIDS causes but a prevailing theory suggests that brain stem abnormalities affecting arousal reflexes leave some babies vulnerable when faced with challenges during deep sleep, including overheating and breathing hampered by pillows, stuffed animals or other soft objects. Babies sleeping on their stomachs are at risk because they sleep more deeply and their airway risks being partly obstructed.

First of all, how can you separate out what is a "true SIDS death" when you do not know the actual cause of SIDS? And then, if you say that suffocation deaths are not true SIDS deaths, then why say that breathing hampered by soft objects can cause SIDS? That sounds like suffocation to me. This is all just so stupid.

[thedevinemissm]

I don't EVEN KNOW WHERE TO BEGIN

Ok, deep breath....

1. I saw GMA. I thought it was absolutely idiotic that this mother would say, "I'm willing to do anything to prevent SIDS" and then plops a bottle of formula in her daughter's mouth!!! Isn't the AAP the same group of yahoos that said that breastfeeding is recomended thru one year and acknowledges that is REDUCES the incidence on SIDS?? Can't this same group of people notice that the breastfeeding instead of pacifiers would acomplish the same goal????? But I guess that wouldn't make anyone any money, would it???? :

2. I find it interesting that if a baby dies in a crib or their own bed, it's SIDS; but if that a baby dies in their parents bed it's SUFFOCATION. Like somehow either baby is any less DEAD!!! Ultimately the statistics show that FAR LESS babies die in their parents' beds than in cribs ~ who cares what the cause is?? :

3. I don't agree with the "back to sleep" campaign as a whole. Has anyone noticed that SIDS didn't exist until CRIBS did? Has anyone noticed that since this campaign started the incidence of sleep difficulties, exhausted parents, CIO, breastfeeding difficulties, and ACID REFLUX have skyrocketed? It also seems an interesting coincidence that at the same time the "back to sleep" campaign began "working" the medical community also changed the definition of what constituted SIDS and many babies that previously would have been considered SIDS are now given diagnosis of suffocation, other medical/genetic conditions, and unfortunately murder.

My largest problem with this statement is that the AAP is further promoting a DISTANCE between parents and their babies. If the AAP put the same amount of energy into breastfeeding that they put into these other campaigns ~ our children would be much healthier for it!!!!!!

I am incredibly dissapointed in the AAP... is there anything we can do???

[alissa_redclogs]

this is so frustrating. we saw this in the LA Times illustrated with a picture of a crib with fancy bed sheets--looked like an ad. the article was basically baby in bed--BAD! crib and pacifier--GOOD! (grrrrr!) now go be a good consumer and buy buy BUY! :

it just makes me angry that all these people are going to think that they HAVE to have all this unnecessary equipment to take care of their child.

the family bed has been such a wonderful experience for us. i am sad for all the families who will miss out on it. i hope people don't take this pronouncement as a sort of "case closed." i get so frustrated with don't-think-be-afraid-and-do-what-we-say rhetoric.

my husband saw the article first and announced it when he came in to say good morning (baby and i were still in bed...) He concluded with "but we know this is best."
hurrah! for the family bed!

[sapphire_chan]

So to prevent "crib-death" they're suggesting putting babies into cribs? And what's the pacifier supposed to do, stop the baby from inhaling the crib and choking to death? : Do you think they even *considered* doing an actual study before coming to their conclusions?

"Ooo look at me, I'm a big smart doctor, I can pull statisitics out of my @ss, ooooh, this idea is popular with the majority so I'll suggest it's the right thing to do. Lookit me, lookit me"

One comfort, mainstreamers never read the AAP's recommendations on bfeeding to at least a year, so they might miss this one too.

[counterGOPI]

http://articles.news.aol.com/news/ar...00010000000001

this must be the same AAP study. i just saw it on AOL and i am..grrrrrrr.... i love how they try and cover their butts too by saying how they promote breastfeeding. ha!!!!
my baby is new only 3 weeks old today and im new at co-sleeping and not exactly sure of what i am doing..can you give me suggestions on what to do and not to do for co sleeping? i thought,too, that the baby is less likely to have SIDS b/c the mimic our breathing patterns being close to us. i dont know, im jus ta paranoid mother so help me regain my intelligence and remind me why my little one sleeping with us is healthy for her (besides how much i love to cuddle with her and hear her breathe next to me at anight )
<3,
nicole

[simonsmama]

Originally Posted by Nitenites

As for what my ped says, I don't ask her where (or with whom) she sleeps, so I figure my kids sleeping locale is none of her business.

I agree! Why is everyone so interested in where children sleep anyways? So yes, cosleeping is unsafe, but mysteriously thousands and thousands of cosleeping babies made it into adulthood, and somehow came out ok. Darn, how did they do it? *sarcasm*

As for the AAP :

I go with World Health Orginazation (WHO) recommendations insted of AAP's recs because quite honestly, the AAP is a bunch of QUACKS!

Why cant we just listen to our instincts?

[the2amigos]

This has been eating away at me all morning. Is there anywhere we can leave feedback on these ridiculous "recommendations"? Off to check out GMA website to start...