A recent incident with my niece comes to mind, she had been told not to
co-sleep by staff in another maternity unit so sat up all night on the
sofa as the baby would not settle. The greatest risk for SIDS is where
someone co-sleeps with an infant on a sofa as they can be smothered.
The risk of SIDS with co-sleeping is pretty low as we all know.
Probably 90-95% of women co-sleep with their infant at some time. This
is from an informal observation of staff attending a Breastfeeding
Workshop I run (about 2500 staff have been through the program). 80-90%
have had children and of these 1-5% say they have never slept with their
babies. As a study, this is a biased sample as they have chosen to come
to a four day Breastfeeding Workshop and are health professionals so it
can not be applied generally to the community.
Gwen
Gwen Moody
CNC Postnatal Care
Westmead Hospital
PO Box 533 Wentworthville 2145
Phone: 02 9845 6964, 0422212774
Fax: 02 9845 8340
Page: 02 9845 5555 - 01135
email: [log in to unmask]
>>> [log in to unmask] 30/04/2009 2:04 am >>>
Once again we are facing a strong anti sleep sharing push by the local
health department. There have been several deaths recently and the
department is taking a hard line against any suggestion that what is
needed is education about SAFE co sleeping. They have taken a very
paternalistic "it's too confusing" approach. I got fed up and sent the
following letter which they printed in it's entirety (with the addition
of a date) even though it was over their 200 word maximum!
Look at sleep facts
Let's see if I have this right. If a baby dies in its own bed, it's an
unpreventable SIDS death, but if it dies sleeping with another person,
it's a death due to "co-sleeping" and as such is preventable? We hear
how babies die while sleeping with an adult, but we don't hear about
those who die sleeping by themselves.
The Milwaukee Health Department is exhibiting a knee-jerk reaction and
ignoring the facts. In each of the last three reported cases, one or
more of these factors was at play: the adult was sleeping with the baby
on a couch, had been drinking, was not the baby's parent or had put the
baby to sleep on a pillow. None of these actions are in accord with safe
sleep sharing guidelines. However, the authorities don't want to issue
the guidelines for fear they are "too confusing." Instead, they are
condemning all co-bedding, in spite of the fact that research does not
support an across-the-board ban.
In the April 21 article "2-month-old baby dies while sharing bed," one
source said parents are going to sleep with their babies regardless of
the push against the practice. Wouldn't it make more sense to help
parents learn how to safely sleep with their infant if they choose
rather than making them feel guilty if they are following their
instincts?
Incidentally, co-sleeping is the baby sleeping in proximity to the
parent, but not necessarily in the same bed while co-bedding means
sharing the same (safe) sleeping surface.
Any death of an infant is tragic, but let's not throw out common sense
and research in responding to these deaths.
Winnie Mading
The latest infuriating thing is that with one this week (where mother
had had several drinks beforehand) , one TV station reported (and this
is an exact quote) "Another co-sleeping related death of an
infant...cause of death has not yet been determined" and another went
so far as to say, "co-sleeping leads to another death...autopsy results
to determine cause are pending"!
So if the cause has yet to be determined, how can they say it's related
to co-sleeping?????
I would write about that stupidity, but they won't print letters less
that 2 months apart. Thanks for letting me vent.
Winnie
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