I think we need to look at something about the "back to sleep" studies.  From what I understand, the studies were conducted in Scandinavia, where the breastfeeding rates are quite high.  When I gave birth in Norway 21 years ago this month, the nurses kept giving me a hard time for lying my son down on his tummy.   They always put him on his back.  Just the opposite of what I had learned with my first two (born in Thailand and in the US).

So what's the answer?  I know that studies show that there has been a reduction of SIDs deaths since the back to sleep campaign started.  I wonder if there has been a corresponding increase in breastfeeding rates in the affected population?

By the way, all five of my children slept on their stomachs because that's the way we did it "back then" (youngest is 14, oldest 27).   I also didn't use a car seat for my first until she was 4 months old (she's 27 now).   With my second (now age 24) when I asked the hospital if they had loaner car seats they thought I was nuts.  The nurse placed my new baby in my arms as I sat in the front seat of the car to ride home from the hospital.  By the time I had my 18 year old, in the US, the hospital required new parents to have cars seats.  On the other hand, when I had my 14 year old (in Hong Kong) nobody walked me to the door to see what I did with my son.  He rode home with me in the back seat of a taxi.  No car seat.

Nostalgia for how is used to be is all good and well, but we do tend to forget the negatives of the past and remember what worked for us.   

Nancy Sherwood
BA, IBCLC
Reston, Virginia, USA

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