> study. It is so tragic that the "back to sleep" campaign has wreaked such
> havoc on our babies--misshapen heads, poorly developed neck structures, no
> crawling, torticolis, and probably GER, to name a few.
I wonder though, how much of this has to do with the fact that SO MANY
of these kids are almost permenantly in a baby bucket (rear-facing only
child restraint seat), never get tummy time, never get massaged etc.?
I know that my nephew spent most of his first 11 (bottlefed) months in
his baby bucket. that was until he learned to crawl at 11 months. He
walked at 16 months. How much of this was due to the total total lack
of stimulation (and how much was due to lower motor skills due to being
formula-fed?! ;-))? He has still, at almost 4 years of age, a very
flat head at the back.
My own daughter spent a LOT of time in arms, did some tummy time (as
much as she'd tolerate as per her age and mood of the day), and was in a
sling much more often, which I am thinking (perhaps wrongly?) is likely
more soft, less likely to deform the head, especially as the way she's
placed in it each time is never going to be the same as the last time,
unlike a baby bucket. She never ever got a flat head, crawled at about
8 months, which was not "early", nor really "late" (no where near as
late as her cousin, anyhow!), and doesn't seem to have neck problems.
> Paren't live in terror of their babies being on their stomachs, so much so
> that they are resistant to skin-to-skin on mom's chest.
I don't get this, personally. For the first 3 weeks of her life, my
daughter slept ON my stomach/chest. She laid tummy-to-tummy on me, and
I ALWAYS felt safe like that as I figured my breathing would perhaps
stimulate her to breathe herself, if needed. After that age, she
started moving around enough to roll off me (quite a big "fall" onto the
bed for a newborn!) so she started sleeping on her back on the bed
beside me. Now that she's 13 months, she chooses to sleep on her tummy
more often than not, except while nursing, when she's on her side.
Fio.
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