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Name: Rina Groeneveld
E-mail: Rina Groeneveld<[log in to unmask]>
Date: 96/08/08
Time: 03:52:39 PM
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Sheryl,

Anne Diamond, a well-known TV presenter, writes in her book "A
Gift from Sebastian" about the death of her 4 month old son as
a result of SIDS. Sebastian slept in his own cot, but she
decided to take her two subsequent babies into her bed. At the
end of her book, (every time I look at this book I struggle to
hold back my tears) she writes :

"There's a tiny little room in St Michael's Hospital in Bristol
with a large double bed and lots of wires linked up to monitors
and an infra-red camera. Inside the bed, tucked up warmly under
the duvet, is a young mother with her new baby. They're both
fast asleep, subconsciously revelling in the almost primitive
closeness of those first special days - and nights - together."
She writes of how she witnessed the sleep of one of these
dyads:
"There were many, many times in the night when mother and baby
stirred...It was rather like a dance. At one point, in the
midst of a period of deep sleep for both of them, the baby
started to fidget slightly, and in a sound almost below normal
hearing levels, squeaked like a little mouse, though still fast
asleep. The mother subconsciously caressed her child's head,
rearranged the bedclothes around them both, patted and stroked
the baby, and then settled back into stillness. She had never
even half-woken...So what! I can hear the cry of co-sleepers up
and down the land. Do I really need a sleep laboratory to tell
me that it's natural for mothers and babies to sleep together?
Well, no. I suppose I don't. But we now live in a society where
it isn't always possible, or indeed desirable, to sleep with
our babies. (What we are missing out on) may be more than an
aesthetic pleasure, it may be vitally important."
There's also a new book by William Sears, which deals with this
issue. I don't know the title, but it's available through La
Leche League.

From Rina Groeneveld