Our local health department has ramped up its campaign against bed sharing big time!  Thye have produced an ad showing the head of a bed with 2 pillows (obviously a "double" bed) stating that this is the place your baby is most likely to die!  What really popped my cork was an article earlier this week that contained so many inconsistinciesand distortions that I had to write.  I took off the gloves this time and don't know if it will get published.  Here is what I said:
Why do City of Milwaukee Health Officials need to "pad" their statistics when it comes to the campaign against bedsharing?  Case in point: article of Jan 12 reporting "3 Babies die in adult beds".  I quote: "a manner of death has not been determined", "While a manner of death has not been determined" and "A cause of death has not been determined".  How can these deaths be blamed on sleeping conditions if cause is still to be determined?
The medical examiner describes these infants as: "well-developed, well nourished and well cared for", "well cared for and showed no signs of abuse" and "no signs of trauma".  SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) is defined as :"Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the unexplained death without warning of an apparently healthy infant, usually during sleep."
Why is this definition applied only if the infant is sleeping in a commercial crib?  If autopsy shows that any of these deaths fit the definition of SIDS, then what did they have to do with sleep location!  Is it possible that SIDS that occurs when the infant is isolated should be blamed on sleeping at a distance from the parents?  See research by Dr. James J. McKenna of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab at the University of Notre Dame which shows a greater risk of SIDS for infants sleeping alone.
As in past reported cases, in each of the three recent ones, at least one of the guidelines for safe sleep sharing was not being followed.  In the first, the parents had been drinking.  In the second, there were pillows and blankets around the infant.  In the third the infant was with a sibling and uncle, not the mother.
When any person or organization stretches the facts to fit a foregone conclusion, it makes me wonder if they lack any firm evidence for their case.
Winnie Mading, Lactation Consultant and Parent/Infant advocate.
 

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