Hello.

I'm Jill Whelan, an LLLL from Indianapolis, IN.  Also new to LACTNET, and
enjoying reading all the messages!  The one on babies' sleeping postures
made me chuckle, but really, the whole issue makes me sad.

Does anyone know why SIDS researchers refuse to look at countries where SIDS rates are very low to see how babies sleep in those places?  Or if
they have looked, why they have apparently dismissed what they found
there as being unimportant?  Because I'm sure they would find that those
babes sleep right alongside their moms all night, breastfeeding at will.
And the moms don't give a second thought to positions or the size of the breasts or anything but keeping the baby close and getting some sleep.

To add to what others have noticed about their babies, both my boys were
able to flip from back to front simply by arching their backs at several
weeks old.  I remember being amazed at this at the time - but maybe this is really the norm for strong, healthy, naturally-birthed bf babies!

Like Patricia Gima, I am concerned about mothers who are so scared by all
this that they don't even allow their awake babies to lie on their stomachs.   Prone positioning is important to the development of creeping, crawling, sitting and walking.  Also, an aquaintance who is an osteopath and
who does cranial work says that she is seeing more babies with an
abnormal flattening of the back of the skull because they spend so much
time on their backs!

Oh, well, that's my .02-worth on this subject!

Jill