Dear Folks:
    I have read the posts about the "dangers of bed-sharing" which results in
"an average of 64 babies dying per year" under age 2 years. That still
doesn't compare with the 4,000-5,000 babies that die per year in the USA due
to SIDS. I know that the number of SIDS deaths per year is dropping, as a
result of the back to sleep program. However, it is still way higher than
babies dying from sharing waterbeds, or getting trapped in bed frames and the
like. So let's keep our perspectives clear here.
    Societies where infants share sleeping arrangements with their parents
have rates of SIDS way lower than we do in the USA. Perhaps our educational
focus should be on SAFE co-sleeping, rather than panicking about it.
    According to a presentation given by James McKenna,  in the 16th, 17th,
and 18th centuries, infanticide by "overlying" was such a public health issue
that same bed co-sleeping was outlawed in Paris, London, and Munich. Could
that be where some of the panic originates?
    Isn't this whole flap reminiscent of the headlines that trumpet the news
of a breastfed baby dying of dehydration yet that are terribly silent about
all the failure-to-thrive babies that are bottle-fed?
    Warmly, Nikki Lee

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