I tried to send this a different way. If this is a repeat, sorry.. If
not, here it is.
Annie
Here is the article from Yahoo news. It at least supports
breastfeeding and clarifies a few points. I am still saddened that
our babies are being moved further and further away from us. And,
there are still NO guarantees you will not lose a baby to SIDS no
matter what you do. The mom quoted in the article is a perfect
example of the guilt we have created by these guidelines; their
babies would NOT have died if they'd known then what we know now. For
some babies that is probably true, but for others, I am not so sure.
Has anybody researched genetic markers for SIDS? Any common link?
What about babies who die in utero? Often times it is blamed on a
cord issue, could it be a pre-term SIDS? We all know plenty of babies
who had cord around the neck and lived. I know that cord prolapse is
different. Even knots in the cord, it is very hard to get a tight
knot in a cord, cords are pretty rubbery.
Sorry to go a little OT here, just thinking about all the new guilty
feeling parents because they didn't use a pacifier :(
Annie VerSteeg IBCLC
New SIDS Policy Recommends Pacifiers - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051010/ap_on_he_me/preventing_sids_1
By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
CHICAGO - Babies should be offered pacifiers at bedtime, and they
should sleep in their parents' room — but not in their beds — in
order to lessen the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, the
nation's largest group of pediatricians says.
Both measures may help keep babies from slumbering too deeply — a
problem for infants prone to SIDS, said Dr. Rachel Moon, who helped
draft the new recommendations on SIDS prevention. They were prepared
for release Monday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of
Pediatrics.
The death rate from SIDS has fallen sharply in recent years, now that
parents are warned not to let their babies sleep on their stomachs or
amid fluffy bedding or stuffed toys. But it remains the leading case
of death in U.S. infants between ages 1 month and 1 year, killing
more than 2,000 U.S. babies each year, and new tactics are needed to
fight it, the academy said.
SIDS is defined as a sudden death of an infant, often while sleeping,
that remains unexplained even after an autopsy and death scene
examination.
Some breast-feeding proponents have advocated letting infants share
their parents' bed to facilitate nighttime nursing and have opposed
pacifier use because of concern that the devices might interfere with
nursing.
But the academy is a longtime supporter of breast-feeding, and the
new policy was crafted with that in mind. It recommends delaying
pacifier use for breast-fed infants during the first month of life —
when SIDS risks are low — "to ensure that breast-feeding is firmly
established." And it says placing cribs near the parents' bed makes
breast-feeding more convenient. Infants may be brought into the bed
to nurse, but should be returned to their cribs afterward, the policy
says.
Pacifiers offered at bedtime should not be reinserted if they fall
out during sleep, should not be coated in sweet substances, and
should not be forced upon infants who refuse them, the policy says.
The new policy, which updates the academy's 2000 SIDS guidelines,
also says that the only recommended sleep position for infants is on
their backs. Letting babies sleep on their sides, considered a less
favorable option in the old policy, is now considered too risky to
even be considered an option, because infants could roll over to
their stomachs.
In 1992, 4,660 U.S. infant deaths were attributed to SIDS. That
annual number fell to about 2,800 in 1998, thanks at least partly to
the government-sponsored "Back to Sleep" campaign launched nationwide
in 1994. By 2002, the reported number had dropped to 2,295.
"Over 2,000 babies a year are still dying. We should be able to do
something about that," said Dr. John Kattwinkel of the University of
Virginia, chairman of the academy's SIDS task force.
Doctors think actual numbers are higher because some true SIDS deaths
are being blamed on other causes, said Moon, a SIDS researcher at
Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Data suggest,
for example, that accidental suffocation, which is hard to
distinguish from SIDS, has increased in recent years, Moon said.
Doctors aren't sure about SIDS causes but a prevailing theory
suggests that brain stem abnormalities affecting arousal reflexes
leave some babies vulnerable when faced with challenges during deep
sleep, including overheating and breathing hampered by pillows,
stuffed animals or other soft objects. Babies sleeping on their
stomachs are at risk because they sleep more deeply and their airway
risks being partly obstructed.
Laura Reno, spokeswoman for First Candle/SIDS Alliance, a national
advocacy group, said her organization strongly supports the new
recommendations.
"We just want to reduce as much risk as possible," said Reno, who
lost a baby son to SIDS 21 years ago, long before stomach-sleeping
and soft bedding were known risk factors.
"He was sleeping on his tummy on top of a sheepskin. If I had just
known then what we know now," she said. "It's a devastating thing for
parents and guilt is strongly associated with these deaths."
The academy's new recommendations are based on new research,
including studies that have suggested that sucking pacifiers might
help keep vulnerable infants from slumbering too deeply to rouse
themselves.
Dr. Stephen Sheldon, director of the sleep medicine center at
Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital, said pacifiers also enhance
babies' swallowing and are an age-appropriate habit.
While pacifier use can increase the risk of ear infections, these
infections are less common during the first year of life — when the
SIDS risk is highest — than later on, the academy said.
The policy recommends pacifier use throughout the first year but not
beyond.
Pacifier use in older children may increase risks for teeth
misalignment, but using them in infancy is not a problem, said Dr.
Paul Reggiardo, a Huntington Beach, Calif., dentist and past
president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.
"These are from our point of view appropriate recommendations,"
Reggiardo said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051010/ap_on_he_me/pr
eventing_sids
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