Okay, BIG RED DISCLAIMER: I’m not a parent (yet) or a medical expert on this type of thing, or a medical expert on any type of thing, and you should not be getting infant-care advice from a stranger on the Internet. That said, I couldn’t help but note this recent release from the American Academy of Pediatrics:
"Infants should be put to sleep on their backs only, not their sides, and pacifiers can be used to help prevent sudden infant death syndrome [SIDS], U.S. pediatricians said on Monday.
"Revised guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics [AAP] issued on Monday also discourage parents from sleeping with their infants at all, saying babies are safer in their own cribs.
"SIDS, the sudden, unexplained death of an infant in the first year of life, is the third leading cause of infant mortality in the United States, causing the deaths of 2,500 infants each year.
"Campaigns to encourage parents and other caregivers to put babies to sleep on their backs instead of their tummies slashed the death rates from SIDS, also known as crib death or cot death, in countries such as Britain and the United States in the 1980s and 1990s."
Does it strike anyone else as strange that the AAP is advising parents to avoid SIDS, also known as "crib death," by advising parents to put their babies in cribs? I might also note that SIDS is extremely rare outside of Western society. In developing societies, parents routinely sleep with their babies and are bemused that Western parents put their infants in cribs that are often in separate rooms from the parental bed. (One very interesting book that explores these differences in parenting styles between Western society and developing societies is Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent by Meredith F. Small.)
Now, whether the "family bed" or some variant of it, such as a sidecar crib attachment, is the right solution for families is something that each family will have to study and decide for itself, and families should definitely consider what medical science has to say when doing so. But it just seems strange to me that the AAP thinks the solution to the tragedy of crib death is to encourage parents to use cribs.
When I was an infant, my mom was told by the ‘experts’ to put infants on their backs to prevent SIDS. Then my sister had her first child, and she was told to put her child on its stomach for the same reasons. Within a year and a half later, she was having her second child and the new words of wisdom were that the child should be laid on its side with blankets supporting it. Then I had my son a year and a half ago. Guess what. We were told to lay him on his back.
When/If you ever have children, you will find the medical community is very full of this type of advice. And if you choose to ignore it and use your own common sense, you’re made to feel like a horrible dangerous parent.
Actually, the sleeping-on-the-back recommendation has been in place for several years. When our oldest was born — she’s 12 now — I remember our pediatrician stressing to my wife and me the significance of new research that showed babies placed on their tummies at bedtime stood a MUCH higher incidence of SIDS than those placed on their backs or sides (using a special pillow to prevent rolling on the tummy).
For many years prior, pediatricians had recommended babies be placed on their tummies to reduce the possibility that a vomitting-in-the-middle-of-the-night infant would choke on their own vomit. There was little research on which to base this recommendation; it was just assumed for decades that this “made sense.”
The recent “update” of the recommendations removes the sleeping-on-the-side option, which, according to our doctor at least, was only included as a “compromise” because doctors worried some parents would absolutely refuse to put their newborns on their backs in order to abide the desperate protestations of grandmothers who couldn’t bear to see their grandchildren put to bed in violation of longstanding “common sense.”
SIDS is more closely related to smoking:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/273/10/795
This is bogus. Most of the warning, if its the same one we got (last year), delt with “rolling over your baby”. If you really want to protect your child, don’t drink while pregnant, don’t smoke ever, and don’t use drugs ever.
I blogged about this yesterday on our site. There is some evidence that suggests that co-sleeping helps protect a baby from SIDs by regulating breathing patterns and sleep-wake cycles. The reasons given by the medical establishment that co-sleeping is bad have little to do with SIDs, which is unexplainable death, but are simply common sense warnings to protect against suffocation. Parents who are considering a family bed need to educate themselves on how to do it safely, which is not difficult, but the medical community should be aiding in education not simply denouncing the practice altogether. Western medicine tends to view western culture as superior in all ways. While the facts state, like Jimmy says, that other countries that routinely family bed are much less likely to experience a SIDs death.
The AAP is simply parroting fears, and education cures fear. But, the AAP’s recommendations are harmful in other ways which should concern faithful practicing Catholics. Since I’ve gone on long enough already, I’ll point interested parties over to our blog to address these other reasons.
http://www.catholic-cadet.com/blog/2005/10/10/medicine-media-and-infant-mortality/
Oops, sorry Michelle! The above should state:
“While the facts state, like Michelle says”
The ongoing pediatric recommendation that babies sleep only on their backs, and only on hard mattresses with no pillows, has recently been somewhat checked by the discovery that this pattern was causing babies’ skulls to become abnormally flattened in the back. I am not joking.
That’s true!
So if your baby has a flat spot on the back of their head, that is a sign that you are a good parent.
I don’t expect that having one of these space-age foam mattresses on your bed would be good, either. You know, the kind that are supposed to mold to every curve of your body?
I would hate to have one over my face.
Actually this has become a real worry for me. I recently got one of those new fangled pillows. Real pillows breath. I think you’ld have to really work hard to do a Hollywood style suffication. The new foam ones are made out of a solid piece and are form fitting. I’ve been noticing that I wake up at night and carefully make sure she hasn’t snuggled under the pillow.
Well, I have four kids and I held each one in my arms and slept in a recliner for easier nursing until they were about one year. Then they came into bed with us until they were about 2 1/2. And when they nap, they go on their tummies–my kids won’t sleep on their backs!
I really think SIDS is suffocation and they use a different name for it so that parents won’t feel guilty. I have read every thing there is to read on SIDS–it’s suffocation.
And Michelle, you are going to make a good parent.
I was more offended by the part of the report which stated that an infant should use a pacifier while asleep.
SIDS is the most over worried about causes of death of a child. Approximately 0.05% (that’s 5 out of every 10,000) of babies die from SIDS and only account for about 10% of infant deaths. An infant is 5 times as likely to die from a deformity/genetic problem or pre-mature birth. A child who survives a birth related death is twice as likely to die in their 2nd to 4th years as they are to die from SIDS and is at least 10 times more likely to die in a car crash as a teenager.
All of this data is from the CDC.
Additionally there have been recently gathered data that suggests that there has not in fact been a reduction in the number of SIDS related deaths in the last 10-15 years (because of back sleeping) as previously thought but that many deaths that were previously classified as SIDS that would no longer be so classified.
I guess my point is that we need to be wary of the “latest recommendations” as the often come from not-nearly-comprehensive-enough studies. While I concur with Tim Bell’s assessment of why there was a change in what docters recommended in regards to back vs. front sleeping we also need to remember that their recommendations may not have come from as sound information as we were all led to believe. If you go to the root of the AAP’s just released recommendations, the recommendation to use a pacifier comes mostly from speculation and a string of possible cause and effects from multiple studies without any specific study that point to this conclusion.
Do I sleep my children on their backs? Yes I do. Do I think that a baby who refuses to sleep on their back should be prevented from doing so? No I don’t. Do I think we should all start using pacifiers? I think that is just ridiculous.
Don’t forget that the fine print on the cribs say something like “do not leave child unattended…” and they recommend checking the bolts and other hardware BEFORE EACH USE.
I don’t believe SIDS is suffocation – just unexplaned death. I find it hard to believe that the medical community would cover up that number of deaths if it were obviously suffocation. Some of the suffocation deaths from co-sleeping come from a medicated parent or from one who has had too much to drink.
I had a brother die of SIDS and when I had my first baby she slept with us because I was paranoid. I slept with my hand on her back so I could feel her breathing . (this was back in the old days 14 years ago when they recommended babies sleep on their tummy.)
Anonymous because I AM a member of the dreaded AAP. (But rest assured, I also am a parent of massive amounts of children and therefore have developed some common sense.)
There was a dramatic decrease in deaths from SIDS when sleeping on backs was recommended. First in Europe (where patients may be more compliant) then in America when the word got out. I do think the no co-bedding recommendation is based on much weaker evidence. The co bedding deaths did have a number who were suffocated by a very asleep parent. Sometimes that parent may be presumed to have been drunk or on drugs. Please do your own careful study before deciding to follow/ignore the recomendations.
The AAP is not perfect (duh). Their policy statements are made by committees. I do not see an evil conspiracy behind this policy. Of course they are sometimes wrong and often misled by many of the same cultural ideas that mislead many Americans.
And everybody thought the Indians were _nuts_ for hanging baby up on a cradleboard. You thought all that swaddling and headshaping of theirs was just for fashion.
No! It was the really early AAP! 🙂
Well, I personally know that Michelle’s niece was put to bed in her bassinet (in her parents’ room) on her back, and never developed a flat head and she is doing vey well. 🙂
Parents who sleep with their infants are setting themselves and their child up for major problems.
Kids cry when they are in a room separated from their parents.
Parents feel bad, and take the kid into thier bed to get him to sleep.
Kid falls asleep, parent carries kid back to crib, kid wakes up, cries, and the kid gets to go back in parents bed.
Within days or weeks the kid has new bed, Parents bed.
Often these kids are still there at 6-7-8 years old.
solution , keep children in their own beds.
I didn’t have a choice as to whether my children would sleep in a cot (crib) or not, as both of my children adopted my bed for all night snuggling up to mum since the time they were born. Though it wore me out, I really wouldn’t have had it any other way…because even now I can still smell their baby smell (not the nasty end) and if I close my eyes I can remember how it felt to hold them in the curve of my right arm as we slept. Their increasing heaviness and the discomfort as they grew, disappeared when I would gaze at them sleeping, and stroke their tiny noses.
Getting Mushy just thinking about it. When will this broodiness end!
My babies are now an ‘almost’ 14 year old and a 10 year old, and they still like my bed more than their own. I’m a little concerned that Joseph might be trying to creep into bed with mummy for a cuddle when he’s 30 if I don’t try to break the habit though!
I did once hear a story about a woman who slept with her baby, the lady had exceptionally long hair. She awoke one morning to find the baby strangled, it’s mothers hair had wound around it’s neck. Such an occurance as this is extremely rare…African’s sleep with their children from birth and they have a much lower SID’s rate.
God bless.
Since we don’t actually know what causes SIDS, is it safe to say that the causal link (as opposed to a statistical correlation) between bed-sleeping and SIDS is unknown? So in effect, what the AAP is recommending is “don’t do X, because in our sample more children whose parents did X died from SIDS than children whose parents did not do X”?
That would be a lot different from saying, “don’t do X because it CAUSES SIDS.” It basically means that we have to trust that the AAP knows exactly what it’s doing in terms of what factors it should be controlling for in its study, and what factors it should even be considering in the first place. In a social atmosphere where the incentives are not generally lined up to maximize the well-being of children, this seems to me to significantly decrease the authoritativeness of such a study.
The real question that needs to be discussed is why is this an issue in Western/Developed countries? It is because more women dump their kids off at day care and not stay home, so then the babies do not develop the closeness and breathing patterns of his parents, especially his mother?
Unfortunately, assuming that is probably true, the politics and PC-ness of our society will mask it, like it does the abortion/pill/breast cancer link.
Marc,
Just to clarify, are you proposing that sudden infant deaths are caused by working mothers not staying at home to look after their babies?..or am I reading your comment incorrectly?
God Bless.
As a new parent (of 2 1/2 week-old Avery John Paul!!), the whole co-sleeping thing intrigues me. Can anyone point me to legit studies that demonstrate co-sleeping past the infant stage does NOT have adverse psychological repercussions? I don’t know much about the issue, so I’m certainly not making any judgements here, but my gut reaction to sleeping with your parents into your teenage years is that it would result in attachment/separation problems. I’ve read a lot of IM(not-so)HO diatribes from both sides, so I not interested in personal experience as much as research.
It really is a facinating topic and how parents choose child sleeping arrangements seems to be a manifestation of core parenting beliefs.
Anyway …
– jp
I think the best gauge is this. Gauge the reactions of others.
how parents choose child sleeping arrangements seems to be a manifestation of core parenting beliefs.
Actually, for me it became a matter of practical necessity. First baby pretty much slept in his crib from the start. Of course I was like a zombie the first few months, since I would get up, go sit on the couch to nurse him, and then put him back to bed. But he was the only one, so I coped.
When his sister was born, fourteen months after the first, I was totally wiped out. Suddenly keeping baby in bed made a lot of sense to me. Cumulatively I got MORE sleep than if I had to keep getting up (and sitting up) to nurse. I don’t think my parenting beliefs changed, particularly, I just got a bit more realistic about my need for at least five hours of relatively uninterrupted sleep… 🙂
#7 is now about a year and a half old, weaned and sleeping peacefully in her own crib at night. The only major sleep problems have been #1 (the all crib baby) and #4 (one of several who slept with mom through infancy) both of whom had night terrors. It seems to be a family trait not especially linked to sleep habits in infancy…
American Academy of Pediatrics picks a fight
They issued new guidelines for avoiding SIDS that recommends parents not share their bed with infants to decrease the risk for SIDS. Report from NPR. I’m sorry, but this stinks. Discouraging a practice widely understood to be good for the…
Everyone feels differently about this issue so to co sleep or not, should be left to what each individual circumstance is. I have seven children- and all but the oldest slept with us until they were about 2. For us, it worked- I was at peace and not a nervous wreck wondering if they were breathing, the babies slept more soundly- and in turn I received more sleep, allowing my day to be more successful. It was much more convenient when nursing as well. 🙂 . My children all did well switching into their own beds- we do get an occasional visit every once in awhile- but they are comforted and we gently move them back. Isn’t that are jobs as parents- are we not there to comfort them. And for those who say this will lead to abnormal problems– I would just like to put it on record that the one who didn’t sleep with us, has the most ( if any) adjustment and attatchment problems, but I don’t really think it has anything to do with decided to co-sleep or not– maybe it was the sleeping on the belly part:)? Oh- and my husbands brother died of SIDS, and he was in a crib- which is what lead us the decision to co – sleep. Whether you co-sleep or not should really be based on each persons individual circumstances and what one feels more comfortable with. The better spirits the mother is in the better spirits the baby will be in- so if you don’t get any sleep because you are constantly worried about rolling over on the baby, maybe a crib would be the answer for you- and vice versa. I really wish the AAP would base their recommendations on solid evidence, ( especially since studies done comparing other cultures suggest otherwise) because it is irresponsible recommendations like this that really leads me to discount their others.
calendario done matura
AAP: “Prevent Crib Death By Putting Babies In Cribs!”