Dear all:

I think it is extremely important to be precise in how we talk about breastfeeding and also how we talk about infant sleep.

Cosleeping is actually what the American Academy of Pediatric recommends -- the baby sleeping in CLOSE PROXIMITY to the mother.  The American Academy of Pediatrics includes on additional caveat that still fits within the definition of cosleeping.  Cobedding is a subset of cosleeping.  Cosleeping does not need defending.  Cosleeping is actually the lowest risk of SIDS.  A study in Great Britain showed that the risk of SIDS was 36% higher when infants slept in a separate room compared to cosleeping on a separate surface.  In the same study, the risk of SIDS was 16% higher when infants were cobedding (with no distinctions among all the factors we know that could contribute to the higher risk) than infants who were cosleeping on a separate surface.

So, if you are posting about cosleeping, please make sure you do not assume this is higher risk.  If you are posting about cobedding, it may be higher risk for some subsets of the population than cosleeping on a separate surface, but it is NOT higher risk compared to sleeping in a separate room.  Please don't post about cobedding as if it is cosleeeping because it is only a subset of cosleeping.

Why is it that public health officials ignore the elephant in the next room ---- i.e. the separate nursery that is the higher risk factor for infants.

Best, Susan Burger.  

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