Re: Baby suffocating between parents

Where is the proof that this child suffocated and didn't die of SIDS?  Did
they wake up and find her dead with her face plastered against a parent's
arm, or face down into the mattress?  I'll bet not.  I'll bet they found her
dead in bed, face up, and are *assuming* that she suffocated.  If nursing
didn't calm her crying the night before, I'm wondering if she had something
seriously the matter with her, like a heart defect, or something else, that
contributed to her death.  I sure hope they do an autospy, and I sure hope
someone publically questions the claim that she "suffocated".  And/or I hope
someone raises the question of whether or not the parents might have done
something to "get her to shut up" such as holding their hand over her nose
and mouth until she passed out/died?  This has happened before too.

Of course, it could very well be that she *did* suffocate because of
sleeping between her parents.  This does happen sometimes.  And it's just
like those cases where someone died *because* they were wearing their seat
belt.  You know, their car went off a bridge and under the water and they
were unable to get their seatbelt undone in the panic, and they drowned.  Or
their car was smashed in an accident and the seat belt buckle was crushed
and couldn't be opened and they died when the car caught on fire.  Of course
sometimes the use of seat belts kills people.  Of course sometimes
co-sleeping kills babies.  But we don't advocate that no one use seat belts,
because in most cases they *save* lives.  And we don't advocate that no one
sleep with their children, because in most cases co-sleeping *saves* lives,
along with all its other benefits.


Kathy Dettwyler