Diane questioned the safety of babies sleeping with adults citing a case
she knew of where a baby suffocated (or nearly did so) in the parent's
bed.  I'm sure by the time I catch up on the last 3 days posts, someone
else may have replied similarly, but in case not, here's my thoughts.

There will always be examples where a choice that is held to be safe or
healthy has the opposite effect in an individual situation.  For
example, I'm sure there are cases where a child received an injury in a
car accident caused or aggravated by the car seat which might not have
occurred without the car seat.  However, the odds still favor using a
car seat.  Of course we've all heard the stories that start out "I (or
my child) was breastfed and still developed diabetes....Chron's
disease...breast cancer...etc. etc. etc.", but we know the odds are
still higher to get these conditions where breastfeeding did not occur.
Unfortunately, studies such as those done by McKenna showing just the
opposite (greater risk to baby when sleeping separately) don't have the
"sensational" effect and don't get widely publicized.  The other thing
that doesn't get publicized as much are the cases where an injury or
other unfortunate occurance could have been avoided if baby HAD been in
bed with the parents.  When these occur they either aren't reported in
the popular press or they get a tiny mention on a back page while the
baby who dies in the parental bed get front page attention.  I know of a
case where a mom sitting up to nurse, even though she was extremely
tired, dozed off and baby fell from her arms to the floor where its
skull was cracked on the impact.  (Fortunatly there did not appear to be
any long term damage.)

Noone is ever 100% protected from an accident or illness, but as for me,
I'll go for what gives the odds for a favorable outcome.

Winnie

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