The latest issue of the "One Step Ahead" catalog advertises a crib mattress
that is equipped with sounds, motion and a bolster system that are designed to
help babies make the transition from the womb to the outside world.  The thing
sells for $400!!!  And it simulates what the kid could get for free if s/he
were just allowed to sleep in his mother's arms.  :-(

They even tout that the damn thing is "FDA-cleared"  The basis for that
statement can be found in an Acrobat format document available on the web:
<http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/pdf/k960747.pdf>, which cites a study published at 15
Journal of Perinatology 3 (1995) which found that babies who slept on the
"Natures Cradle" mattress cried "65% less."  Now, why do I suspect, without
even looking, that the control sample did not include *any* co-sleeping
infants?

Disgusted,



J. Rachael Hamlet
Author, The Breastfeeding Advocacy Page
http://www.clark.net/pub/activist/bfpage/bfpage.html