I had an interesting experience on a home visit this week which I want to
share in light of our discussion on the co-sleeping issue.  I'm with Susan
that making lemonade out of this is perhaps the best way to look at the
debate, and I admit that the focus on improving the safety of co-sleeping
was a consciousness raiser for me.  I've been an advocate of shared sleep in
my community since I co-slept with my own kids starting 21 yrs ago, and tend
to view it as so normal I have never particularly commented on how to
improve the safety of the practice.

  I visited a young mother with a badly cracked nipple, and wanted to
observe all her nursing positions to make sure I understood the reason for
the wound.  When we went into her bedroom to practice side-lying, I noticed
she had a light-weight plastic garbage bag peeking out from under a
scrunched up towel on her bed.  She put the baby on this and proudly told me
this was her strategy for keeping the mattress dry.  When I pointed out to
her that even a little wiggling moved the towel and exposed the edges of the
plastic bag, it became clear to her that the baby might easily wind up with
plastic bag material over her face -- a terrible risk for suffocation.  The
answer is not to say: the baby must sleep in a crib, but to advise her to
get a water-proof mattress cover, place it UNDER the bed sheet, and to be
aware that it is her responsibility to make co-sleeping and bed sharing safe
for the infant.  It was a comfortable and successful opportunity to do
anticipatory guidance, and to help an inexperienced mother re-visualize the
issue of household safety from the baby's point of view.  It matches the
sensible responses of the parents in Susan's childbirth class who came up
with the idea of the firm futon on the floor.  There are always solutions,
and hysterical over-reaction is never the smart response.

Barbara Wilson-Clay, BSEd, IBCLC
Austin Lactation Associates, Austin, Texas
http://www.jump.net/~bwc/lactnews.html

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