Sleeping with Baby Dangerous, Study Says

I have to say that I am very frustrated that so many media sites have taken the information in this report and used a very small finding to discount the benefits of co-sleeping. After seeing these headlines (on CNN, MSNBC, and FOX), I went and read the actual report from the journal. It does document an increase in deaths due to strangulation and suffocation, but the authors do not advocate strongly for no co-sleeping. Instead they write that the increase may be due to a change in the method of identifying the cause of death. They do say that sleeping with parents MAY be a potential reason for the increase but they do not ADVOCATE or CONCLUSIVE FIND that co-sleeping has resulted in the massive increase. It is irresponsible for media outlets to be putting this message out there! For goodness sakes, more than 1/2 the world co-sleeps (I do, too!). We know the precautions to take and we do them. Take care.

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I breast fed my both of my babies until almost 6 months and it is easier for the night time feedings to lay in bed with the baby. I did fall asleep on some rough nights and as soon as I woke up, the baby was placed back into the crib. I did not ever sleep well with either of my baby boys in my bed. I was always very stiff from not wanting to move even an inch. I did not want the boys to want to sleep with Mom and Dad either. Therefore, after breast feeding was over, so was the co-sleeping. The children sleep in their own bed. I am a stay at home mom who loves their children, but needs some time alone.

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I agree with both jennifer and jamie....i always rocked my daughter to sleep and then would lay her down on my bed....I hated the idea of co-sleeping, but she was 2 months premature, so I thought she needed that closeness....but no matter how far I would move over so I wouldn't roll onto her or something, she would scoot over to me and snuggle lol....by about 5 and a half months I was rocking her to sleep (yes, completely to sleep) and then putting her in the crib. She slept through until 6 or 630 and then, since it was almost time for me to be getting up by this time anyway, I would just give her a bottle and let her go back to sleep in bed with me. She is three now, and she only comes to me in the middle of the night if she has a bad dream, and then I pick her up and take her back to her own bed. She has no clinging issues from sleeping in bed with me for the first few months, however, I do think if you do it, consistantly, after about 15 months of age, they will expect it, and they won't want to sleep in their own bed. But hey, if you're cool with that, then feel free! Like Jennifer said, 1/2 the world co-sleeps!

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I never slept with my boys either. I need my own space for sleeping and I felt, so did they. I just feel we all need the "safeness" and security of our own beds and rooms. If one of my boys had a nightmare or didn't feel good, I'd climb in their beds until they fell back to sleep. Of course this was 31 and 29 years ago and nobody (that I knew of) slept with their kids. It just wasn't done. I also knew it could become a bad habit so why would I knowingly start that? If you don't want your kids to do something when they get older, why let them do it when they're younger?

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This is so funny I just finished posting about co-sleeping safety on my blog.

I am currently co-sleeping with my son he is almost 12 months now. If I have another baby would I do the same yes. At the beginning because he was so little we had him in a co-sleeper that is designed to be in the middle of your bed but at 3 months he outgrew it and was in bed with us. From day one we follow some strict rules: only one pillow per adult, only one blanket per adult (not sharred between us); baby sleeps in the middle; when he was too little to defend himself no cats in the room; now no cats in the room because they wake him up; baby uses a sleep sack not our blankets; no drinking alcohol then sleeping with baby (I don't drink and I am pretty sure Geoff has only had 2 beers in the last year).

So yes I think co-sleeping is ok but the parents who do it need to be informed how to co-sleep safely.

Pierrette from
http://wisemanconspiracy.blogspot.com

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OK, this concerns me for an entirely different reason.

I periodically hear a statistic cited to the effect that "crib deaths" (SIDS) decreased by about 50% after the "back to sleep" campaign was launched. Is this real, or is it because some % of the "crib deaths" are simply categorized "suffocation and strangulation" now?

I have read varous information suggesting that letting infants sleep on their tummies (a) is NOT the cause of SIDS, (b) promotes better physical health in some respects, and (c) leads to better sleep, which is associated with fewer learning and behavior problems.

Does the study cited here suggest that we need to revisit SIDS and the "back to sleep" campaign?

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As far as co-sleeping goes, I assume there is a right way and a wrong way to co-sleep. I have never had the pleasure of doing it, but it makes a lot of sense to me for families that choose it. Like many things, we make a blanket statement ("don't do it") that offers no guidance for people who are going to do it anyway, for whatever reason. It would be better to issue guidelines, e.g., don't do it unless you're going to take precautions A, B, and C. After all, cribs aren't automatically safe either; we have to take precautions; but information on crib safety is readily available, while information on safe co-sleeping is not.

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I completely agree with SKL. People will do what they want to do for various reasons. I have three children 13 to 7 and all three co-slept and breast fed. At that time, we had little baby bumper things the babies would lie in on their backs and couldn't wiggle out of nor could we roll over them. It was very easy for me and my kids and we all slept well. As far as starting bad habits, my kids moved out of our beds very soon. Often we would maybe watch a movie in our room and they would camp out on the floor. It was easy. Besides, I would guess most kids don't even want to be in bed with mom and dad after a while, the toys and stuff in their own bedrooms are much more interesting and comfortable, Its normal. We have never had an issue with it, I just stopped sharing that information with others when I didn't feel it was fair to judge our parenting choices. All three kids are fine so far. All three are athletic and above average in intelligence and socially well adjusted and I might add, sleep in their own beds ;)

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There is a right way and a wrong way.
I kept my 2nd daughter in my king-sized bed for the first 2 weeks. I had stitches from stem to stern and an infection. Sitting upright was very painful.
My husband slept in the guest room. I removed all bedding except for the fitted sheet. I slept on a very small pillow with only a twin sized sheet. I stayed far on one side of the bed, "scooched" far down in it. I put my baby about arms-length away. I wasn't worried about rolling onto her because I slept on my side facing her.
I moved her to a bassinet beside the bed after I was able to sit up. I would not recommend sleeping in a bed smaller than a king with an infant and certainly not with another person in the bed.

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I have co-slept with both of my children (2 1/2 year old girl and 1 1/2 year old boy). When our son was born, my daughter (then 14 months) was still in our bed. I was able to breastfeed both babies easily. I was able to hear them breath and attend to them quickly. Both are awsome sleepers, now in their own beds. I have a 3rd on the way and plan to co-sleep with her, too. I think that when combined with booze, drugs, etc. problems arise. I am happy for the closeness and bond that co-sleeping provided our family.I can't imagine schlepping across the room to a crib to nurse or not snuggling all night with my new baby...

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To me, as a parent, you should do what is safest, and since I've witnessed first-hand the horrors of what happens when co-sleeping goes wrong, I can never support it.

Yes, there are things you can do to make it safer, but to me you choose SAFEST in this circumstance. It is easy enough to attach a sleeper to your bed, put a crib in the room, use a cradle, or whatever. Why would you take the chance? Just seems irresponsible to me.

I know there are those that are adamant that is BEST for baby, but it just doesn't juve with the safety risk as far as I'm concerned.

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I think like many things recommended by the AAP the co-sleeping debate is fueled by a "if you scratch our back we'll scratch yours" attitude with the crib and bedding manufacturers. If co-sleeping truely took off and people realized all the true benefits and weren't scared into thinking that it's a horribly dangerous practice (much the same as having to be fully vaccinated or having to circumcise etc) then those manufacturers associated with the sale of things related to crib sleeping (bedding, cribs, safety monitors, crib toys etc) would be losing too much income and subsequent jobs would be lost.

That being said, I believe that if you listen to your child, you'll find out what's best for them. My older son was in our room in a co-sleeper next to the bed until he was 5 weeks old at which point he wasn't sleeping well, he was always cranky, so we tried naps in his room and he'd sleep wonderfully. By 8 weeks he was sleeping in his crib at night and sleeping 12 hours a night. My second son on the other hand wasn't ready to leave our bed until he was almost 8 months old but now that he has, he too sleeps through the night. Babies are smarter at knowing what they need and communicating that than most people give them credit for. It's the parents who have lost the listening ability.

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Oh this is such a loaded subject! I'm so impressed with everyone being so responsible with their comments!
We co-sleep with our two year old and we have from day one - even in the hospital. She's transitioning to her big girl bed and it's not without some sadness on our part. It's been such a great experience for the whole family. We'll definitely co-sleep with our future children if they seem to benefit from it as much as our daughter has.
That said, we practice the safety suggestions we can because we want our good experience to be a safe experience too. For us co-sleeping felt safer too. We felt more secure with it than having our daughter down the hall in a crib. Co-sleeping parents are usually quite educated about what they're doing. None of us would put a child in a car without a car seat, why would we put our baby in our bed next to the wall and surrounded by a down comforter?
And I agree with Chrijodo above. I think we need to always take the media and AAP's reports with a large grain of salt and remember who is funding whom.

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We have 6 chidren from 33 to 10 . I breastfeed all of my babies, and co-sleeping. I thank it just as safe if not safer than a crib. I am a lite sleeper and my babies sleep next to me.and all 8 of my grandchidern co -sleep

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I think that in general, people who bedshare successfully believe that because their child lived, they did it "right". There is then a judgment that parents who have an infant die in bed with them did it "wrong". That point of view is flawed.

Also, the argument that "half the world does it" makes no sense. Half the world does not sleep in a soft bed with pillows, blankets, comforters, pillow toppers and all the other things that Americans typically use. In China, families sleep on a pallet on the floor with a sheet and the baby is positioned perpendicular to the parents above their head. That's certainly not how Americans sleep.

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Sharing the parent bed with baby isn't a good idea, but co-sleeping is. They aren't the same thing. You can buy a co-sleeper (which is basically a bassinet) to place directly next to, or attach with your bedside as a means of having baby right there with you as you sleep in your own bed. There is no risk of rolling over on top of baby when you both are technically in different sleep spaces.

As far as strangulation risks go, it's a matter of following the same level of common sense and basic safety education: choose "sleep-sacks" over blankets and remove toys and lovies before laying baby down to sleep.

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