It is with great sadness that I post this message as a young mother in
my community lost a two month old baby yesterday morning.  The mother is
a nursing student and one of my best friends in her instructor.
According to the mom, the baby was had nursed at 4 am and gone back to
sleep between her and her husband.  When they stirred at 7 am, the baby
was not breathing.  The local news paper reported this tragedy with the
headlines, "Baby may have suffocated - two month old dies while mother
breast feeds."  The police chief is quoted as saying "There's a
possibility the mother may have been breast feeding the child and fell
asleep, possibly on top of the infant, smothering it."

I talked to my friend (the mom's instructor) this morning after she had
visited the family in their home and was wanting advice as to help deal
with the breastmilk/engorgement issue.  I talked to my friend just now
and read her the newspaper account.  We are both appauled and so
saddened for the mother.

Since I am a Lactnet lurker and not really up on the issues of SIDS,
etc. I would really appreciate some help in getting right to the data on
the related topics.  I will try to do some archive searching this
evening, but could do with some shortcuts to the research.  I did hear
James McKenna speak on cosleeping issues a few years ago at ILCA.  I
want to be prepared to go to the media as well as to this family.  In
addition to your expertise, I am asking for your thoughts and prayers
for this family and our community as we wrestle with this loss.

Esther Oppliger, ARNP, IBCLC
Garden City, Kansas