At 04:28 PM 05/08/2005, you wrote:
>but side- sleeping?  is the risk of SIDS the same as tummy-sleep?

The risk is lower than sleeping on the tummy but still significant
ie If I remember correctly (I am not in my office) while in some 
studies back to sleep led to a SIDS reduction of 75% side sleep was 
closer to 45%  still major.  An addition risk with side sleep is the 
mechanisms used to ensure the child remains on their side ie rolled 
receiving blanket or bolster.

-when thinking of this discussion it is worth looking at Dr McKenna's 
and Dr Helen Ball's work on what normal infant sleep looks 
like.  That is an infant breastfed on demand sleeping within arms 
reach of a sober adult in a safe sleep environment.  Typically this 
is sleeping on the same sleep surface as their mom.  Teresa Pitman in 
an earlier post described it very well.  The infant sleeps on its 
back moving to its side to nurse.  There are frequent arousals 
of  mom and babe in what looks like a "dance" .  If you ever have a 
chance to watch the video studies I strongly recommend doing so. This 
is the environment within which normal infancy took place for eons 
and to no great surprise the infants do very well indeed.
         As I mentioned previously the big discussion is what 
constitutes a safe sleep environment not about back to sleep which is 
solidly researched. Very few of us sleep on mats on the ground...what 
does a safe adult bed look like...what does a safe crib look like... 
Most SIDS takes place in cribs... even the research condemning bed 
sharing is producing results showing that infants crib sleeping in a 
separate room are at higher risk. Bed sharing and cribs are being 
treated as consistent states without looking at the safety of each 
situation..ie each bed or crib  We still have a lot to learn.
         If you are still unsure about the back to sleep research I 
strongly recommend you spend some time looking at it. This is not 
something based on one or two weak studies. Those jurisdictions which 
changed their recommendations have seen dramatic drops in SIDS not 
one or two percentage points but 50 - 75% reductions. In many large 
juridictions there have been reductions of dozens of deaths per year. 
This has been one of the most dramatic public health changes I have 
seen in my working life.
         I am saddened to hear that breastfeeding has been removed as 
one of the recommendations from the US campaign. Has that been the 
experience elsewhere in world?? It is certainly remains part of our 
local literature in my part of Canada. 

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