Remember that a baby only dies of "SIDS" when the medical examiner can't
find any other reason, on autopsy and investigation, for the baby to have
died.  It is hypothesized that some SIDS deaths are due to underlying
infections that are not detectable -- breastfeeding would help protect
babies from these diseases.  It is hypothesized that some SIDS deaths are
due to botulism poisoning -- breast milk helps protect babies from botulism
toxin.  It is hypothesized that some SIDS deaths are due to "failure to
rouse from an episode of apnea [not breathing]" and that such failure to
rouse is thought to be due to an immature brain that has trouble
coordinating all the automatic things it is supposed to be doing and/or that
is not able to correctly monitor oxygen saturation and fails to signal the
baby to rouse when oxygen levels in the blood fall too low.  Breastfeeding
helps the brain mature normally, thus you are less likely to have an
immature brain if you are breastfed.  Breastfeeding has an independent and
significant effect on the risk of SIDS, apart from the cosleeping that it
often goes with.

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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email: [log in to unmask]
Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html