I've waited a day to mail this and it is the "cleaned-up" version.
The observations and comments on this latest sell out of infants to the
AAP's "base" have been engaging--especially Karen Palmer's suggestion of
re-naming items to get around the recommendations--"My nipple as pacifier
or dummy; my bed as a cot...
I also am concerned (and ashamed) about the ripple effect this tainted
recommendation will have on other countries who unwisely look to the AAP as
a guide to infant health practices. One would hope that others would catch
on that infant health is no longer central to such declarations by the AAP
but admiration dies hard. Of course, perhaps baby doctors in some other
countries are also shifting their allegiance.
Since pacifiers are effective at preventing SIDS (aka Crib death) only if
the thing is in the infant's mouth I think that, instead of the weird
statement that one should not re-insert it if it falls out, a parent should
be told to stand beside the bed all night to assure that the baby is
suckling on the pacifier while *he* sleeps. The recommendation to not
reinsert it if it comes out is laughable and contradictory to the strong
statement urging its use in preventing death. The peak time of death is
reported to be 5am.
I imagined parents' following the advice to take away the pacifier at one
year to protect the teeth, just in case there is a problem with oral
development. How much sleep is anyone going to get then when the baby's
lone security (in that great expanse of crib with nothing to touch) is
taken away because the AAP said so. How many Peds are going to stress this
recommendation as firmly as they stressed beginning the pacifier use?
And when a baby wants to be close to her mother [who, by the way is
snuggled up against the other big person in the house] and cries herself to
sleep because she is supposed to stay in her own cag--oops crib, how is
that all-protective pacifier going to get into her mouth?
Addressing some points:
"...in order to lessen the risk of sudden infant death syndrome,
the nation's largest group of pediatricians says."
But we know that it is not the *only" group of pediatricians in the US,
don't we?
[pacifiers]..."and should not be forced upon infants who refuse them, the
policy says."
Why not,if it prevents death? You gonna let the baby decide?
"Both measures may help keep babies from slumbering too deeply ? a problem
for infants prone to SIDS, said Dr. Rachel Moon."
Hmmmmm. what is a major cause of infants sleeping "too deeply"? Could it
be that casienomorphine, the opiate in cow's milk and in infant formula
based on it? Is
there something else that a baby could drink that would keep her from
slumbering too deeply?
"But it remains the leading case of death in U.S. infants between ages 1
month and 1 year, killing more than 2,000 U.S. babies each year."
In the U.S.
"Some 'breast-feeding proponents' have advocated letting infants share
their parents' bed..."
As opposed to whom? Who is being revealed here to be *not* a breastfeeding
proponent?
"But the academy is a longtime supporter of breast-feeding..."
Surrrrreee.
"Place the infant to sleep with the head to one side for a week and then
changing to the other.
Seems absurd to think that a healthy infant would not be able to turn her
head from side to side. And I have always wondered what is to keep a
normally developing baby from turning over in the night from back to
front. Of course, with the obsessive fear of stomachs these days, I have
seen two month olds who cannot raise their
heads off the floor or a chest.
Breastfeeding would address all of these recommendations and the SIDS (aka
Crib Death) rate would fall, while the emotional health of a normally
attached infant would set a pattern of a lifetime of connection and community.
This "news" came up at a women's gathering that I attended this
morning. The median age is probably about 60. They were all impressed by
the absurdity of the pacifier recommendations. And several asked themselves
how does one keep a baby from turning her head the way that is not right
for "this week." Unfortunately, they did not question the bed-sharing
scare. I helped them out a bit on that issue.
One said, "I'm sure glad that I didn't know all of this stuff when my
babies were little. I would never have had a good night's sleep."
The formula and crib companies are grinning today.
I am not.
Patricia Gima, IBCLC
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
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