>Dorothea,
>        The protective effect of breastfeeding on SIDS is not an old wives'
tale.  You need to find (and copy for the doctors) the study -- reported so
far only as an abstract of a presentation given at professional meetings, by
Fredrickson et al.  In an analysis of a huge data base, they found that for
every month of exclusive breastfeeding (nothing besides breast milk) the
risk of SIDS was cut in half.  So, compared to the rate of SIDS in
bottle-fed kids, one month of exclusive breastfeeding cuts that rate to .5,
two months to .25, three months to .125, four months to .0625, five months
to .0312, and six months to .016, which is so low as to be basically zero.
There are a number of thoughts of how this mechanism might work, ranging
from protecting babies against botulism toxin (implicated in some SIDS
deaths), to more rapid/normal maturation of the brain, to the fact that
co-sleeping and breastfeeding tend to go together.  You can find a
discussion of this research in either McKenna and Bernshaw's chapter, or
Doren Fredrickson's commentary chapter, in the book I co-edited with
Patricia Stuart-Macadam, titled "Breastfeeding: Biocultural Perspectives."
Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition
Texas A&M University