Nikki, 
I think you very aptly summed up a very important public  health 
communications problem that applies to many issues, i.e. the subtleties  of the message 
are not easily communicated on a flyer or a bus stop poster.   
That said, it would be so much better to educate parents  about safe 
co-sleeping than to simply tell them not to do it and walk away.  Because obviously 
many are co-sleeping  anyhow, even though they are hearing everyone from their 
mother-in-law to their  doctor telling them not to.  I know  that things are 
changing slowly in this regard, but people seem so reluctant to  allow 
themselves to be labeled as co-sleepers.  I’ve heard so many parents say, “I only  do 
it when my child is sick…” or “He’s only with us early in the morning…”  I 
think those people don’t  think that the co-sleeping safety “rules”  apply to 
them.  Even  mothers who use one of those sidecar beds  (like the Arm’s Reach 
co-sleeper) are probably pulling their babies into bed  with them to nurse.  
And I bet they  fall back to sleep as they nurse (who wouldn’t?) and so 
therefore, the safety  “rules” apply to them.   
I know I’m not directly answering your question, but I  think one of first 
steps in coming up with a sound public health message is to  get people to 
understand that the safe co-sleeping “rules” apply to ANYONE whose  baby spends 
ANY amount of time sleeping on an adult bed, with or without another  person.  I 
wish the medical, public  health, and parenting communities would start to 
treat this as an issue that  applies to most people (as opposed to what they see 
as a fringe group) and start  focusing on educating parents how to co-sleep 
safely.   
Susan Allison 
Former public health communications professional, mom to a nursing,  
co-sleeping 2-year-old



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