>
>Next they state there are no adverse outcomes for parent using the back to
>sleep as appose to the stomach.  He also goes on to say that there is less
>spitting up.  I can tell you that I am seeing an increase in reflux since the
>back to sleep campaign and of course the solution to this problem is to tear
>the mother's diet apart of switch to specialize formula.

Ann, I am glad that you wrote this.  I have come to the same conslusion.  I
wrote once before on Lactnet about an ILCA conference speaker in, I think,
New Orleans who was a gastrointerologist. He said that infant's major
systems work best when baby is on her side, curled up as if being held.  He
said that flat back sleeping caused inefficient breathing, heart rate, and
digestion.

I think that 1/2 of the infants in the Milwaukee area are on Zantac for
reflux for up to 6-9 months of their lives.  [I have had no clients who
share sleep and either carry babies for sleeping in the day time or have
them sleep on their sides, whose babies have reflux.]  With Zantac's being
an antacid, I have wondered what effect that drug, or others that are used,
have on optimal digestion, since stomach acids are important in
digestion.  Also after that stunning presentation in Scottsdale on the
presence of Sailic Acid in human milk, whose purpose is developing human
brains, I am wondering what will be the outcome for these babies who are
being given powerful antacids daily for the months when this milk sugar is
highest. The sailic acid is high in colostrum and in term infants it
remains high for 3 months, still being present after that. In premies it
remains high for up to 6 months.

I know that adults who take antacids are said to limit their nutritient
absorption and I suspect that infants would also experience these
limitations. Infants are being "diagnosed" with reflux whenever there is
digestive distress and are being prescribed antacids.  This condition is
the most common diagnosis for infants in my area.

There are several companies across the US which make helmets for infants as
young as 3 months old to reshape their flat heads.  We are certainly doing
something wrong.

There are several Peds in the area who are advising parents to place babies
on their sides to sleep. They are still not ready to say side *or* stomach
but back sleeping is waning in recommendation.

I have had several clients whose 3 month olds cannot lift their heads when
they are lying prone. What if they should accidentally find the strength to
roll from back to stomach (which they should have been able to do for some
time), their risk for suffocation would seem to be high.

If breastfeeding had been promoted on bill boards and on bibs and T-shirts
and urged in hospitals and Ped offices across the US as thoroughly as "back
to sleep" was, infant health would have been much better served.

As you said, some parents are scared to hold and snuggle their infants on
their chests for fear that they will die of SIDS.

Pat Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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