This article (below) is the one that generated a lot of discussion on
LactNet because of the poor quality of the scientific methodology.  Does
anyone else think it curious that arguments against co-sleeping
(specifically against the work of anthropologist James McKenna) didn't start
to appear until after he published his recent work showing that co-sleeping
increased breastfeeding?  Nobody seemed to have any problems with
co-sleeping as long as *all* it did was result in synchronization of sleep
patterns between mother and child, less deep sleep for child, less apnea for
child, more transitions between light and deep sleep for child.  But boy,
after years of publishing these results to little fanfare, as soon as
McKenna published his research showing that co-sleeping led to more
breastfeeding, suddenly we have a number of studies and reports about how
*dangerous* co-sleeping is.

Kathy Dettwyler, becoming a true believer in the conspiracy theory of infant
formula companies influence over "research."


from http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/mayinf.htm

                                   Press Release

                  INFANTS AT INCREASING RISK OF SUFFOCATION DEATH



               For Release: May 3, 1999, 5 p.m. (ET)

Below is a highlight of a study published in the May Pediatrics electronic
pages, the
Internet extension of Pediatrics, the peer-reviewed, scientific journal of
the American
Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The complete study also is available on Pediatrics
Electronic Pages at http://www.pediatrics.org.

CHICAGO - The risk of infant suffocation caused by beds and bedding,
pillows, plastic
bags or co-sleeping with a parent continues to be under-recognized,
according to a study
published by the American Academy of Pediatrics in Pediatrics electronic
pages. The
study reports that in 1995, suffocation was the leading cause of injury
death for infants younger than age 1. Researchers from Johns Hopkins
University School of Hygiene and Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland,
reviewed 2,178 suffocation cases documented by the Consumer Product Safety
Commission (CPSC) between 1980 and 1997. The authors found
the most frequent causes of infant suffocation - wedging between a bed and
mattress or
wall, and obstruction of the nose and mouth - increased during the time
period studied.
Although not as common, the greatest increase in infant suffocation deaths
since 1980 has been in those "overlain" (parent on top of child) while
bedsharing. The type of suffocation seems to be significantly related to
age, with wedging occurring primarily in 3 to 6-month-old infants who have
begun to develop several motor skills. Of those who
suffocated from obstruction of the nose and mouth, 80 percent were under 7
months of age, and 70 percent of those overlain were younger than 3 months
of age. The researchers
concluded that for an infant's best protection, cribs must comply with
safety standards and be properly maintained. They also stress that
bed-sharing and the use of adult beds for infants should be discouraged.
They recommend that the CPSC further research the types of plastic bags that
cause infant suffocation deaths, and explore the inclusion of a written
warning statement on all types plastic bags.

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