Thank you for sending this through. I guess everyone on this list feels frustrated by information like this. I certainly do "down under" here in the south pacific. New Zealand has always been a bit anti pacifier use (we call them dummies). Culturally they can be seen as "dirty" and they tend to be a pet hate of grandmothers.
Having said that I am dreading the AAP statements hitting the media here and dummies getting a standing ovation!
Excuse me for being sarcastic but how about we all rename nipples to pacifiers or dummies, then everyone will be happy! Baby can sleep all night with the nipple/pacifier/dummy in its mouth! Of course that dosn't solve the bed sharing problem but if we renamed beds to cots, then that problem would go away too!
The other thing that makes me laugh is, has anyone tried taking a dummy off a one year old infant who has become dependant on it for sleep and comfort. Not a pretty sight. I'm also having a bit of a giggle picturing thousands upon thousands of parents scrambling around at night under the cot trying to find the precious dummy that was hurled over the side. Gives a whole new meaning to sleep deprivation really.
Karen Palmer
Midwife
Mother of 4 breastfed children (the oldest of whom had a dummy I am ashamed to say - so I know all about scrambling under cots at night)
>
> From: Annie VerSteeg <[log in to unmask]>
> Date: 2005/10/11 Tue AM 08:49:44 GMT+13:00
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: pacifiers
>
> 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
> ***********************************************
>
> To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
> To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
> To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
> All commands go to [log in to unmask]
>
> The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
> LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
> mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
> http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
>
***********************************************
To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail
To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest)
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet
All commands go to [log in to unmask]
The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R)
mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html
|
