Dr. Laura appeared to say that the marital bed should be just that, from day
one of baby's birth.  She really was VERY EMPHATIC.  I felt sorry for the
mother.  The baby in question was one month old.  Dr. Laura suggested white
noise, some kind of bear that has a (not "the," of course) mother's heartbeat,
etc. and said something really strange (I'm paraphrasing)--that parents have
figured ways of getting babies to sleep alone since time immemorial.  I was
going nuts, of course!
        I wish Dr. Laura was being as slighly open-minded as Katherine D suggests,
but it is my distinct recollection, having heard this advice first-hand on my
car radio, that there was no mention of IF baby's presence was causing a
problem that baby should be in crib.  No baby, period.  "That
terrible/horrible/awful (or similar adjective) habit"  was uttered several
times, loudly and firmly.
        The mother called because she wanted to keep a bed her mother-in-law had
given her (and which she now wished to use to sleep with baby, so you see,
marital bed wasn't even in the picture, except for the fact that the mother
wasn't in it temporarily!) and the mother-in-law wanted it back, since what
use could the mother have for it, now that she had a new "marital" bed.
Chris Mayou
(who used to be a student of karate with husband, so marital bed was martial,
too)

<<Date:    Mon, 19 Oct 1998 16:23:05 -0700
From:    Linda Bojman <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Dr Laura

I believe that she does have an E-mail address. Listen again. I heard that
portion of the show. I do not completely agree with Dr Laura however, I do
believe that she was trying to say that the family bed at some point should
become the martial bed again.>>

And Katherine D. said:
<<I do believe Dr. Laura was saying that "if it was causing a PROBLEM in the
marital relationship, it was better in the long run to preserve the
marriage."  Of course, I might disagree with that, too (do you really want
to be married to a man who won't allow his child in the bed), but I also
think you can interpret Dr. Laura's comments as implying that if the baby
in the bed isn't a problem, then it isn't a problem.>>