Diane wrote:
> I've had enormous fun, lately, pondering why we think the human infant =
> is the only mammal that is and ought to be comfortable on its back - a =
> position of instability and/or insecurity for every other mammal newborn =
> that I've been able to come up with.

> So I'm wondering if perhaps *all* our models are skewed.  That maybe our =
> babies are entirely built for spending at least some of their sleep on =
> their chests, but with their chests in contact with adults, and with =
> frequent shifting of position either because they rouse to nurse or =
> because the adults rouse with cramped arms.
>

I don't know if it's true that other baby mammals don't sleep on their 
backs. My dog Toby is now the proud father of twenty puppies in two litters, 
and those puppies do sometimes sleep on their backs. Not all the time, but 
sometimes.

As I described in an earlier post, when my children were little we were 
sternly instructed to always have our babies sleep on their tummies. But I'd 
nurse Matthew to sleep in my bed, with him on his side and me on my side, 
and as he fell asleep he'd usually roll onto his back. I WANTED to get him 
onto his tummy, but because his arm was under him I couldn't without picking 
him up and moving him - and that would wake him up. So I let him sleep on 
his back (and worried about it).

This seems to me to be a pretty natural way for babies to sleep. I know that 
if he stirred sometimes I would put my hand on his chest or belly and 
sometimes slept with my hand on him.

But I did also have times when he fell asleep on my chest or in a carrier 
and I think it was fine for him to sleep that way too. I agree with you that 
the problem seems to be with separate sleep - because it begins by being an 
unnatural way to sleep it is hard to know what's normal.

Teresa 

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