I ask you, "What is wrong in this picture?" Look closely. How many of you know that the loose blankets and the pillow are FAR MORE DANGEROUS to that baby's life than the knife?
By Edward Lovett | ABC News – Tue, Nov 15, 2011
Milwaukee Runs Provocative Ads To Wake Parents Up to Dangers of Co-Sleeping
As reported in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the campaign, unveiled last Wednesday, includes two posters of a baby lying in a bed next to a large knife. In one, the baby is white; in the other, the baby is black. “YOUR BABY SLEEPING NEXT TO YOU CAN BE JUST AS DANGEROUS,” the copy blares.
The second-leading cause of infant mortality in Milwaukee is SIDS, or sudden infant death syndrome, which often results from ”unsafe sleep,” according to the health department’s website. A form of “unsafe sleep” is bed-sharing with parents.
“Is it shocking? Is it provocative?” asked Bevan Baker, the city’s commissioner of health, according to the Journal Sentinel. ”Yes. But what is even more shocking and provocative is that 30 developed and underdeveloped countries have better [infant death] rates than Milwaukee.”
I agree wholeheartedly with co-sleeping mom Christie Haskell, as she notes on Cafe Mom's blog: The Stir, "... health officials would be better off telling parents how to safely co-sleep, rather than demonizing parents who do it as a deliberate choice with plenty of safety precautions. "
During my research I learned many things that makes co-sleeping safe. I discovered swaddling often plays a part. But, of course, moderation is the key. I do not recommend swaddling an infant nightly. If you sneak out of bed to go pee, check on other children, etc, and your infant is swaddled they will not "root" towards the nearest pillow or other person sleeping in your bed. Pillows and loose blankets ARE very dangerous for babies. A 2 week old or a 2 month old baby WILL root, by scooting towards the pillows or another human body, once the person they are sleeping up against leaves. Most often they do this without ever waking up. I have observed this firsthand with my own and the babies of many of my friends.
A very good article that explains physiologically, this migratory instinct, is: The Science of Mother Love, by Cori Young, found at: http://mothering.com/parenting/the-science-of-mother-love
Once my children were no longer swaddled (around 2 or 3 months of age) I used a wicker bassinet placed next to the bed to lay them in each time I got out of bed, or I plopped them into their cocoon-like sling and took them with me. This practice is called, "babywearing."
I did not ever leave my baby unattended in the family bed (we had a king-sized water bed as our family bed for over 10 years). I firmly believe co-sleeping is a process, to be molded and shaped to fit the needs of the family. There is no right or wrong way, as long as SAFETY is first. One of the issues I have with the Milwaukee ad campaign is that it does not teach parents how to keep babies safe while they sleep. It just dictates: do not let your baby sleep in your bad with you. Pillows and loose blankets in cribs are just as dangerous as those in the parents' bed! And what about the parent who snuggles a baby to sleep and then lays the baby on the couch, while they hop up to go do the dishes or take a shower? The baby is in danger of scooting/migrating under the back or arm cushions and suffocating.
The most important thing I learned from other cultures is that the first nine months the baby is inside the womb, and the second nine months the baby should be in someone's arms: mother, father, or grandparent. This is called the "babes in arms" stage of development. I used this method of parenting and can attest to the fact that the bonding that occurs keeps babies safe while co-sleeping.
According to neurologist Richard Restak, MD, “Physical holding and carrying of the infant turns out to be the most important factor responsible for the infant’s normal mental and social development.” Neural and neuroendocrine functions underlying emotional behaviors are responsive to early experiences in enduring ways. For example, the anthropologist Margaret Mead found in her research that the most violent tribes were the ones that withheld touch in infancy.
When a baby is in your arms or up against your body in a sling the first 9 months of age, you become so accustomed to their rhythms that you can know when they are about to pee or poop before they do it. There is a growing movement in this country of couples who go to classes called EC: Elimination Communication, to learn this symbiotic relationship with their babies. Of course, parents in Africa, India, Norway, Peru, etc do not need classes to know about this, as it is indigenous to their culture! They do not use diapers, either.
The Milwaukee ad campaign and the whole controversy of co-sleeping reminds me of the Measles scare in TX in 1991. I had just moved back to TX after living 11 years on the West Coast. The newspaper reported there had been 69 cases of, and 4 deaths from, measles in TX the previous year. What was left out of the report was that all but one of the children who contracted the disease had been FULLY immunized against measles. And, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the four who died did not die because they had measles, but of dehydration! Newspaper stories often do not give all the pertinent information that could help parents make informed choices. And advertising campaigns, such as the baby in bed with a sharp knife, use scare tactics instead of informing parents of ways to keep babies safe.
I realize not all parents can become confident and comfortable co-sleeping their babies, but I hope they realize that putting a baby in a crib, isolated in their nursery, away from the center of activity of the family is a modern-day Western culture tradition. And, it is not the best thing for the baby for a myriad of practical reasons.
If you do not choose to co-sleep your baby, I urge you to consider having them close by, perhaps in a cradle beside your bed.
If you wish to learn more about attachment parenting, I recommend the following articles.
- Compassionate Connection http://mothering.com/parenting/compassionate-connection
- Mothering Special Report: Attachment Parenting http://mothering.com/parenting/special-topic-page-attachment-parenting
- Cosleeping: Real Men Sleep With Their Kids http://mothering.com/parenting/real-men-sleep-with-their-kids
- Bed of Roses http://mothering.com/parenting/bed-of-roses
- Three in a Bed http://mothering.com/parenting/three-in-a-bed
- Pillow Talk http://mothering.com/parenting/pillow-talk
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