LA news said 1 baby dies per week

1770 Views 47 Replies 35 Participants Last post by joyfulone, Aug 12, 2006

joyfulone

Discussion Starter · Aug 9, 2006

... while co-sleeping with parents. I wish I had a link to the news report in type-written form, but I'm bringing it up because it was really disurbing to hear. The 4 o'clock news on ABC in Los Angeles played a clip of some official from maybe the coroner's office, or something, saying that one baby dies per week from co-sleeping with his/her parents. The report came on b/c a newborn was smothered by it's mother or father while in the Torrance Memorial Hospital. My husband and I co-sleep with our daughter, and we've been doing it since she was a newborn, but sometimes I think we're just really blessed and lucky that we never rolled over onto her, ourselves. I mean, how does anyone guarantee that they won't roll over on them?

I probably sound really ignorant, and maybe there is a special way to protect our babies that I've missed, but I'd love to hear any advice for how we can especially make sure we don't roll over on them like that report suggested happens every week in LA County.

Joy

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alegna

· #2 · Aug 9, 2006

How many babies die per week because they're alone in a crib? They're not giving those numbers, eh?

-Angela

mayamama

· #3 · Aug 9, 2006

My husband and I also co-sleep with our one month old and have since the beginning. I was also freaked out about rolling over onto her, but I think there's something that just keeps us from doing so. I lie on my back usually with my arm around her so she's just tucked up under my arm. However, my husband sometimes violently turns in his sleep and I have to remind him of our little one. She's been sleeping in the bassinet lately, but I also saw something on the internet, called a co-sleeper that like a little bed that just goes right in your bed between you. It was like $50 so I didn't get it, especially since it's only good until they start pushing up, and she's almost there! Good luck though.

Kaitnbugsmom

· #4 · Aug 9, 2006

found out why the LA papers and our papers here in Indy are carrying this crapola delight.

Parent company is the same, Gannett Media...

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frontierpsych

· #5 · Aug 9, 2006

"I was also freaked out about rolling over onto her, but I think there's something that just keeps us from doing so."

same thing that keeps you from falling out of bed at night, I presume (and arguably-- people who tend to fall out of bed should probably not co-sleep)

I am planning to co-sleep, but I've definitely been looking at what factors play into the safety of co-sleeping to make sure I am 100% safe. (ie: no soft bedding, I'm not a heavy sleeper, not obese, etc.) Obviously there are viable arguments against co-sleeping under certain circumstances, but these need to be kept seperate from the general safety of co-sleeping. There is an ad campaign in Indiana that says "Never sleep with your child" and THAT I cannot agree with. There needs to be more information out there on co-sleeping safety rather than just telling people not to do it. (After all, the same ad campaign has ads about kids drowning in a pool, and it says "Supervise children at all times while they are swimming" not "Never let your child swim".

Okay, I'm getting off topic. Lets get back to the mystery man!

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Sagesgirl

· #6 · Aug 9, 2006

Quote:

same thing that keeps you from falling out of bed at night, I presume (and arguably-- people who tend to fall out of bed should probably not co-sleep)

That, and the same thing that keeps you from rolling over on top of your husband! (No, it's not just a matter of size.)

See, here's the thing. Although it is demonstrably less likely, SIDS can indeed occur even to babies who co-sleep. But there's a distinct difference in how the death is handled. If a baby dies while co-sleeping, then overlaying/suffocation tends to be the first, automatic assumption. If a baby dies in a crib, well then, it must be SIDS, right? (Note: I'm not saying it isn't SIDS, just that the same assumption should hold true no matter where a baby sleeps.)

You know who's behind the big anti-cosleeping push? Not the AAP, though they don't out & out endorse co-sleeping. The JPMA--the Juvenile Products Manufacturers' Association. In other words, the people who benefit economically if you don't share a bed.

~member~

· #7 · Aug 9, 2006

Before cribs, how did we survive?

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Sagesgirl

· #8 · Aug 9, 2006

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by MamaInTheBoonies
Before cribs, how did we survive?

We left our cave babies outside so that the wolves could get them!

You make a great point, though. Historically speaking, co-sleeping has been the norm, except for the richest among us. Think about it for a minute.

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Susuhound

· #9 · Aug 9, 2006

Oh please. Perhaps you should write in and ask them to do a feature on the 800 babies who die in the US every year because they are formula fed. Oh wait. that will make mothers feel guilty and that's not allowed....

pumpkinsmama

· #10 · Aug 9, 2006

The baby who died in the hospital, did they give any details, like was her mother on pain meds, recovering from surgery, blood loss? I've heard of far more cases where parents are in an "altered" state than normal, healthy co-sleeping. I didn't co-sleep without my little in the bed baby co-sleeper thing until I was off pain meds.

Quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by MamaInTheBoonies
Before cribs, how did we survive?

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paxye

· #11 · Aug 9, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sagesgirl
Historically speaking, co-sleeping has been the norm, except for the richest among us. Think about it for a minute.

Actually, only in our culture did the richest not co-sleep... and even then if they did not co-sleep they had nannies and wet nurses that slept with or close to the kids...

tash11

· #12 · Aug 9, 2006

sounds like media bs to me.

its all about money. the makers of cribs benifit when people dont co-sleep. the news people get better rateings when they present shocking stories (like the 'ticketing for bfing in nyc' thing recently).

I have been co-sleeping for 6 months. I wouldnt have it any other way. (really I would have been more afraid to put her in another room when she was smaller then I would be to put her in the same bed.)

bebetuck

· #13 · Aug 9, 2006

As long as you co-sleep safely (not obese, no drugs/drinking, no soft bedding, not a heavy sleeper) I don't think you're putting your child at risk. In fact, I would rather be right next to my baby so if something happened I would have a better chance of knowing about it!

We started co-sleeping when DS was about two weeks old and I have woken up in some pretty darn strange positions, but I have never compromised his safety that I know of.

Damn those crib-makers, trying to make us feel bad for doing what we know is right for our babies.

:

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muppet729

· #14 · Aug 9, 2006

yeah, we had a stupid article not that long ago and the stats said that something like 51% of babies who die in their sleep are sleeping with their parents. It went on to encourage not sleeping with your kid....

Um, hello, I know I've been out of teaching math for a couple of years, but last time I checked, that still leaves 49% that are sleeping where? Hmmm...

I always hate those articles because there is honestly never any "meat" to them if you know what I mean. It's just scare tactics.

I like what the pp said about the pool- "always supervise (in other words, make sure they are safe)" not "Don't ever let your children swim."

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Ruthla

· #15 · Aug 9, 2006

I also have to wonder if that baby had any other medical problems, diagnosed or otherwise, that contributed to the death. Who's to say the baby would have lived had s/he been in a basinnette?

thepeach80

· #16 · Aug 9, 2006

I have a friend who lost her ds to SIDS at 4 mos, alone in his crib, so not co-sleeping didn't help them much.

I've been co-sleeping pretty much since AJ was born. I had a c/s and I just couldn't get up to help him so he slept w/ me. It's now my pg self, AJ who is 3 and Evan 20 mos all sleeping together. lol I've never rolled over on them or had them fall out of bed (o.k. I think once AJ slipped between the bed and wall, but he was almost 3 then and sleeping independently away from me).

We had an article last year about the dangers of co-sleeping too. Of course they included stories like the mom who slept w/ her baby on the couch after working a 12+ hour shift AND taking someone else's rx muscle relaxer and then her baby suffocated. Well, if you're not going to be smart about it, bad things are more likely to happen. Who sleeps w/ their baby (especially on a couch) while taking someone else's meds? That's a reason NOT to be a parent, not against co-sleeping.

I also recently read about a couple in LA who had triplets and then 3? yrs later had quads (or maybe it was the other way around) and already had 2 other children and all lived in a 1br apt. Well, I'm assuming they didn't have 7 cribs in their and having all those people in one room is not going to be healthy for anyone IMO and would probably increase the risk of suffocation, especially among the babies.

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may05mommy

· #17 · Aug 9, 2006

My theory is that if the AAP said that co-sleeping was OK, then people who really shouldn't co-sleep--extremely heavy sleepers, people who smoke in bed, people who drink or take drugs before they go to bed--would think that it was OK for them to co-sleep as well.

We've been co-sleeping since birth, pretty much. I had a C-section so I was on pain meds, so DS slept with my mother the first couple of nights after we got home from the hospital.

spiritmomma

· #18 · Aug 9, 2006

Quote:

found out why the LA papers and our papers here in Indy are carrying this crapola delight. Parent company is the same, Gannett Media...

ah ha!

cornflower_3

· #19 · Aug 9, 2006

*

CryPixie83

· #20 · Aug 9, 2006

Honestly I hear a lot more babies dying from SIDS in a crib than cosleeping. Yes it does happen when cosleeping (my SIL's best friend lost her first dd from SIDS and they coslept), but that doesn't mean that cosleeping is the cause.

I can think of a time when my dd was an infant where I woke up for "no reason" and she wasn't breathing... scary but not a huge deal because I was right there to stimulate her. Had she been in a crib...who knows?

All I know, and what really is most important to me is this: My maternal instinct tells me to sleep with my babies. So I do.

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