mysticmomma
02-06-2006, 11:25 AM
I was very disappointed in your article regarding the AAP’s recommendation on co-sleeping. Worldwide research shows that co-sleeping actually reduces the risk of SIDS. The 65 or so cases of accidental suffocation in a parents bed reported each year are NOT SIDS, and while the implication is that these are co-sleeping deaths, many of these infants are sleeping alone in adult beds. Even so, they are accidental deaths. The two are not one in the same. A SIDS death is an unexplained death. Suffocation is not unexplained. Why do we continue to ignore that virtually ALL 2500 SIDS deaths each year occur in cribs? The logical conclusion is that a baby is much less likely to suffer an accidental suffocation in a parent’s bed then they are to die of SIDS in a crib alone, be it in another room or in their parents room. Therefore, co-sleeping is much safer. Safe co-sleeping is not the same as accidentally falling asleep on the couch with your newborn. Nor is it the same as taking a sleeping aid while your baby is in bed with you. If you are a smoker, you shouldn’t co-sleep, but then again, smoking in the same house as a baby increases SIDS risk, so you just shouldn’t smoke. PERIOD. You shouldn’t co-sleep on an air or waterbed mattress, and even pillow tops are an iffy choice. Very obese or heavy sleepers should not sleep with their babies, but once children become mobile and can crawl, roll over, etc. even THIS recommendation loses merit. Research around the U.S. has shown that about half of American families co-sleep with their babies. Many may not realize they co-sleep, because their babies start out the night in their crib. Bringing a child into your bed at 2 am when she wakes for a feeding IS co-sleeping. Taking a nap in bed with your baby IS co-sleeping. As a society, we should focus our efforts on teaching parents to do this safely instead of trying to get them to change their parenting instincts and use cribs (which have only been around for 150 years). Pacifiers, which are also recommended in this policy statement, are artificial substitutes for what the breast does naturally. Co-sleeping breastfed babies often nurse to sleep for naps and bedtime. They also tend to nurse more frequently and gain weight more easily. Also to be noted, for every 83 formula fed babies that die of SIDS, 3 breastfed babies do. That’s not a percentage. Those are ACTUAL BABIES. The recommended pacifier usage could cause a reduction in milk supply due to reduced stimulation of the breasts and may affect breastfeeding duration, which in turn could increase a risk of SIDS. Pacifiers contribute to high, narrow palates that can have lifelong negative consequences on facial beauty, ear infections, breathing, orthodontic and dental issues.
Let's take a minute to see who sponsored the study, as stated on their website. Notice, all of these companies have a vested interest in promoting pacifiers and crib sleeping.
Among the top Corporate sponsors ($100K and above)
• Halo, (makes crib mattresses, crib accessories, crib bedding & crib sleep sacks)
• Gerber (makes pacifiers & crib bedding)
• Ross (formula manufacturer, so no scruples about encouraging pacifier usage...interferes with breastfeeding).
Other Corporate sponsors:
• Wal-Mart foundation (many sold out of pacifiers the day after the AAP’s recommendation was released)
• Babies R Us (sells cribs & pacifiers)
• Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory (sells cribs & pacifiers)
• Kiddopotamus & Co (sells sleep sacks for crib sleeping babies)
• Tiny Love/The Maya Group (sells crib mobiles)
I'd also like to add that the SIDS Alliance also has major sponsors in common with the AAP's nonprofit, the "Friends of Children Fund": Gerber, Johnson and Johnson, and Proctor and Gamble. It seems likely to me that they commissioned a study that found what they wanted it to find (which is easy to do, based on how you set exclusions and how you interpret the data), sent it along to the AAP for consideration, and then their common sponsors encouraged the AAP to revise the guidelines in light of the new research. Here is a link to research the AAP has long ignored. It concludes that not only do co-sleepers have a lower risk of SIDS, but they do better in school, and have fewer stress and sleep disorders as children, and later in life as adults. I hope you will visit it and make your own decisions, based on what is in your heart, best for your child, and ultimately best for your family, not what some arbitrary “expert” tells you to do. You are the expert on YOUR child. http://www.parentingweb.com/ap/sleep_health.htm. I will continue co-sleeping with all of my babies.
Let's take a minute to see who sponsored the study, as stated on their website. Notice, all of these companies have a vested interest in promoting pacifiers and crib sleeping.
Among the top Corporate sponsors ($100K and above)
• Halo, (makes crib mattresses, crib accessories, crib bedding & crib sleep sacks)
• Gerber (makes pacifiers & crib bedding)
• Ross (formula manufacturer, so no scruples about encouraging pacifier usage...interferes with breastfeeding).
Other Corporate sponsors:
• Wal-Mart foundation (many sold out of pacifiers the day after the AAP’s recommendation was released)
• Babies R Us (sells cribs & pacifiers)
• Baby Depot at Burlington Coat Factory (sells cribs & pacifiers)
• Kiddopotamus & Co (sells sleep sacks for crib sleeping babies)
• Tiny Love/The Maya Group (sells crib mobiles)
I'd also like to add that the SIDS Alliance also has major sponsors in common with the AAP's nonprofit, the "Friends of Children Fund": Gerber, Johnson and Johnson, and Proctor and Gamble. It seems likely to me that they commissioned a study that found what they wanted it to find (which is easy to do, based on how you set exclusions and how you interpret the data), sent it along to the AAP for consideration, and then their common sponsors encouraged the AAP to revise the guidelines in light of the new research. Here is a link to research the AAP has long ignored. It concludes that not only do co-sleepers have a lower risk of SIDS, but they do better in school, and have fewer stress and sleep disorders as children, and later in life as adults. I hope you will visit it and make your own decisions, based on what is in your heart, best for your child, and ultimately best for your family, not what some arbitrary “expert” tells you to do. You are the expert on YOUR child. http://www.parentingweb.com/ap/sleep_health.htm. I will continue co-sleeping with all of my babies.