Barb writes,
<< Each year in the USA 6,000 to 7,000 baby's die of crib death (what we
 now call SIDS).  Each year in the USA 64 babies die when sleeping with a
 parent.  Therefore, it is 100 times more likely that a baby will die
 when sleeping in a crib than when sleeping with its parent. >>

According to the Washington Post article, there are 2705 deaths per year from
SIDS.  Since this "study" counted every death that took place in an adult
bed, whether or not they were co-sleeping, there were 15 deaths/year
attributable to "overlaying."  (I use the term advisedly -- it might have
been SIDS, it might have been infanticide, the adults may have been drunk --
though the WP said that only 2 of the adults were taking (admitted to)
alcohol or drugs.).   That means there were 2705 deaths attributable to SIDS
that occurred in cribs.  As a percentage of the 4,000,000 babies born per
year, that puts it at about 0.068% of births.  The article also stated that
about 1/2 parent stated their babies slept with them at least part of the
night.  That's 2,000,000 babies per year.  15 of those babies died from
"overlaying."  That's 0.00075%.  Now I don't know about you, but it seems to
me you have a much higher chance of your baby dying in a crib than in your
bed -- if you are just looking at the overlaying figures vs SIDS.  Now, they
also claim that 64 babies per year die because of being in an adult bed, and
50 babies per year die in cribs from being caught in the slats or whatever.
Subtract the 15 babies/year that die of being "suffocated," and that leave 49
that die per year because of being caught in the sheets, being placed face
down on a waterbed, or whatever else.  Once again, my math tells me that 49
babies dying in an adult bed is less, not significantly so, but less, than 50
babies dying in an old crib.

Why on earth are we telling parents not to co-sleep?  (Rhetorical question
there).  I wish someone with some mathematical ability would really look at
the REAL figures and figure it out.

Jan Barger, RN, MA, IBCLC
Wheaton, IL
www.bsccenter.org
"Further up and further in."  -- C.S. Lewis

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