Fears of Smothering During Co Sleeping

Tell me again that it is okay to co-sleep. I'm worried that I may smother
Morgan.

~Carol Ann

"Carol Ann" wrote in message
news:3nJec.24357$_K3.62604@attbi_s53...
Tell me again that it is okay to co-sleep. I'm worried that I may smother
Morgan.

I think you have to feel comfortable about it to do it. Follow your
instincts when parenting. If anything were to happen, you would forever
blame yourself for not following your instincts. That goes for just about
everything in parenting.

"Carol Ann" wrote in message news:3nJec.24357$_K3.62604@attbi_s53...
Tell me again that it is okay to co-sleep. I'm worried that I may smother
Morgan.

I'm not going to lie to you: co-sleeping is more dangerous than cot
sleeping.
How much more is a matter of debate, but the largest American study
found
about 20 times more dangerous. The largest Euopean study was a little
lower.

In the past, others have claimed to know about studies that show that
co-sleeping is safer than crib sleeping, but they never seem to be
able
to post them. (But see below about McKenna and Sears.)

Below is a lot more data:

Co-Sleeping Safety Data (Update 3: Jan 22, 2004)

This is a annotated bibliography covering the safety of co-sleeping
with
infants. I have included EVERY study, which I can find an on-line
abstract
(or the entire paper is on line) in English, which meets the following
criteria:
1. The research was published in 2000 or later.
2. The research was peer reviewed.
3. The research focused on actual death rates (not suspected causes
or
mechanisms).
4. The research compared death rates for co-sleepers vs.
non-co-sleepers.
5. The research was done in developed (not third world) countries.
This bibliography does NOT include editorials, opinion pieces, or
letters to
the editor. The main sources for these abstracts are PubMed, SCIRUS,
and web
archives of medical journals. If you find any other studies, please
tell me,
so I can add them.


Summary: of the nine studies found, seven found co-sleeping to be more
dangerous
than cot sleeping, and two studies found no added danger from
co-sleeping. No
study found co-sleeping safer than cot sleeping. Not one. Some of
the studies
focused on SIDS, some focused on suffocation, some covered both.

Quotes from the Research:

"The most conservative estimate showed that the risk of
suffocation increased by 20-fold when infants were placed to sleep in
adult
beds rather than in cribs. The public should be clearly informed of
the
attendant risks." [SCHE03]

"Almost all SIDS deaths in Alaska occurred in association with prone
sleeping,
bed sharing, or sleeping outside a crib." [GESS01]

"bed sharing showed an increased risk of dying accidentally, when
compared
with infants sleeping in designated infant containers" [BEAL00]

"Bed-sharing appears to increase the proportion of unexplained deaths,
regardless of the position of the infant." [THOG00]

The Papers:

[BEAL00]
Sudden infant death syndrome in South Australia 1968-97. Part 3: is
bed sharing
safe for infants?
Beal SM, Byard RW
J Paediatr Child Health 2000 Dec 36:552-4
http://reviews.bmn.com/medline/searc...9&refer=scirus
"bed sharing showed an increased risk of dying accidentally, when
compared
with infants sleeping in designated infant containers"

[CARP04]
Sudden unexplained infant death in 20 regions in Europe: case control
study
R G Carpenter, L M Irgens, P S Blair, P D England, P Fleming, J Huber,
G Jorch, P Schreuder
Lancet 2004; 363: 185-91
http://www.thelancet.com
"For mothers who did not smoke during pregnancy, OR for
bed-sharing was
very small (at 2 weeks 2·4 [1·2-4·6]) and only significant during
the
first 8 weeks of life."
One way to phrase this in a one sentence headline is:
Co-sleeping with children under 2 months old was a significant
risk factor for SIDS.

[CARR01]
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Bedsharing, Parental Weight, and Age at
Death
Cindie Carroll-Pankhurst and Edward A. Mortimer Jr
PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 3 March 2001, pp. 530-536
http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ode=pediatrics
"By demonstrating that among an urban population at high risk for
SIDS,
bedsharing is strongly associated with a younger age at death,
independent
of any other factors, this study provides evidence of a
relationship
between some SIDS-like deaths and parent-infant bedsharing,
particularly
if the parent is large."

[FERN03]
Sleep Environment and the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in an
Urban
Population: The Chicago Infant Mortality Study
Fern R. Hauck, Stanislaw M. Herman, Mark Donovan, Solomon Iyasu,
Cathryn Merrick
Moore, Edmund Donoghue, Robert H. Kirschner, and Marian Willinger
Pediatrics 2003; 111: 1207-1214
http://pediatrics.aappublications.or.../111/5/S1/1207
"Several factors related to the sleep environment during last
sleep were
associated with higher risk of SIDS: ... bed sharing overall (OR:
2.7;
95% CI: 1.8–4.2), bed sharing with parent(s) alone (OR: 1.9; 95%
CI:
1.2–3.1), and bed sharing in other combinations (OR: 5.4; 95% CI:
2.8–10.2)"

[GESS01]
Association between sudden infant death syndrome and prone sleep
position,
bed sharing, and sleeping outside an infant crib in Alaska.
Gessner BD, Ives GC, Perham-Hester KA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
"Almost all SIDS deaths in Alaska occurred in association with
prone
sleeping, bed sharing, or sleeping outside a crib."

[IYAS03]
Risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome among northern plains
Indians.
Iyasu S, Randall LL, Welty TK, Hsia J, Kinney HC, Mandell F, McClain
M, Randall
B, Habbe D, Wilson H, Willinger M. JAMA. 2002 Dec 4;288(21):2717-23.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
Found that infants who died were more likely to co-sleep (59.4%
vs.
55.4%), but this relation was not statistically significant.

[SCHE03]
Where Should Infants Sleep? A Comparison of Risk for Suffocation of
Infants Sleeping in Cribs,
Adult Beds, and Other Sleeping Locations
N. J. Scheers, PhD, George W. Rutherford, MS and James S. Kemp, MD
PEDIATRICS Vol. 112 No. 4 October 2003, pp. 883-889
http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ode=pediatrics
"Reported deaths of infants who suffocated on sleep surfaces other
than those designed for infants are increasing. The most
conservative
estimate showed that the risk of suffocation increased by 20-fold
when
infants were placed to sleep in adult beds rather than in cribs.
The
public should be clearly informed of the attendant risks."

[THOG00]
Sleep position and bed-sharing in sudden infant deaths: An examination
of
autopsy findings
Jon R. Thogmartin MD, Charles F. Siebert, Jr MD and William A. Pellan
AS
From Palm Beach County Medical Examiner Office, West Palm Beach,
Florida.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...f85336bdc6f88d
The Journal of Pediatrics Volume 138, Issue 2 , February 2001, Pages
212-217
"Bed-sharing appears to increase the proportion of unexplained
deaths,
regardless of the position of the infant."

[WILL03]
Are risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome different at night?
Williams SM, Mitchell EA, Taylor BJ.
Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of
Medicine,
University of Otago, New Zealand.
Arch Dis Child. 2002 Oct;87(4):274-8.
"The interactions between time of death and bed sharing, not
sleeping
in a cot or bassinet, ... [several other factors] were also
significant,
or almost so."

Papers Not Listed

[ARNE01]
Changes in the epidemiological pattern of sudden infant death syndrome
in southeast
Norway, 1984-1998: implications for future prevention and research.
Arnestad M, Andersen M, Vege A , Rognum TO
Arch Dis Child 2001 Aug 85:108-15
"For SIDS victims, an increase in the number of infants found dead
while
co-sleeping is seen"
This paper was not included above because it was unclear if the quote
was due
to the popularity of co-sleeping, or if the rate of death was
increasing.

[WILL01]
Scott Med J. 2001 Apr;46(2):43-7.
Sudden unexpected infant deaths in Dundee, 1882-1891: overlying or
SIDS?
Williams FL, Lang GA, Mage DT.
"It might be prudent to inform parents that co-sleeping is a risk
factor
for SIDS and that it should therefore be avoided."
Although this study technically fulfills all the requirements, it's
focus on
deaths over 100 years ago caused me not to list it above.

[MUKA99]
Leg Med (Tokyo). 1999 Sep;1(1):18-24.
Sleeping environments as risk factors of sudden infant death syndrome
in Japan.
Mukai T, Tamaki N, Sato Y, Ohno Y, Miyazaki T, Nagamori H, Hara S,
Endo T.
Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, 160-8402,
Tokyo,
Japan
"In addition, the co-sleeping habit, which was not uncommon in
Japan, seems
to contribute to certain deaths of infants whose causes of death
were
controversial. In the investigation of SIDS, therefore, the
sleeping
environments, such as bedclothes and the co-sleeping habit, as
well as
the sleeping position should be taken into consideration as risk
factors."
This study was published one year before my cut-off, so it is not
included
above. However because many people claim data from Japan shows the
safety of
co-sleeping, including it here.

Complaints About These Papers

Mostly TBD, but here is a start:

1. The most common complaint about these studies is that they did not
cover
"safe co-sleeping", but rather reported data from all co-sleepers. So
people
claim that they follow "safe co-sleeping guidelines" so the research
does not
apply to them.

The first thing to remember is that no one follows safe-sleeping
guidelines,
because there are none, or rather: there are dozens, all different!
And
none of them have been found to work. There is not a single study
anywhere
that I found which reported the same risk of death while "safe"
co-sleeping
(under any set of rules) as compared to crib sleeping. None.

The second thing to remember is that, for a public health issue (like
co-sleeping), measuring the death rate for the whole population IS the
right
thing to do. The question of the safety of co-sleeping is one of the
safety for the whole population, not little groups of it.

2. Some co-sleeping proponents will complain that a study mixed up
SIDS deaths
with suffocation deaths. This argument turns into a two-step dance
like this:
when presented with a study showing co-sleeping leads to higher SIDS
death rates they say "but the study confuses SIDS and suffocation" so
it's worthless. When presented with a study showing co-sleeping leads
to higher suffocation death rates they say "but the study confuses
suffocation with SIDS" so it's worthless. In fact, it doesn't matter.
A baby who dies of SIDS is just as dead as one who dies of
suffocation.
Some of the studies listed above examined all night time deaths
[IYAS03, THOG00], some covered SIDS only [CARR01, GESS01], others
covered suffocation only [SCHE03]. All found the same result: higher
death rates for co-sleeping children.

3. Another argument sometimes heard is "but co-sleeping is natural, so
it must be safe, people co-slept for thousands of years, and still
do in many part of the world". This is not really a complant about
the studies, but an alternate argument that they must somehow be
flawed. But this argument itself is deeply flawed, the thousands
of years that people co-slept also had infant death rates much higher
than we have now! In many places and times, HALF the babies died,
a death rate that would never be acceptable now. Similarly, the
places
in the world today where co-sleeping is very popular often have
infant mortality rates far higher than the US. Indeed, this whole
argument can be phrased as an anti-cosleeping one: people in ...



Some Famous Papers That Didn't Make It (and Why)

The McKenna papers are very popular on AP and co-sleeping web sites,
but none are included for two reasons: they are all way too old, and
none of them measured actualy death rates in children. Really! These
papers which supposedly justify co-sleeping as an anti-SIDS method
NEVER studied babies who died of SIDS!

A more serious problem with McKenna's work is that it was based on
a discredited theory of SIDS. The modern view of McKenna work is
that is shows a serious problem with co-sleeping. That co-sleeping
infants are under stress. For example:

[HUNS02]
The sleep of co-sleeping infants when they are not co-sleeping:
evidence
that co-sleeping is stressful
Hunsley M, Thoman EB Dev Psychobiol. 2002
Jan;40(1):14-22.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
"Each of these differences indicates a markedly lower arousal
level in the long-term co-sleeping infants. This sleep pattern
has been repeatedly found to be an indicator of stress. We infer
that a major source of stress for these infants is the experience
of sleep disturbance documented for infants when they were
co-sleeping.
Based on extensive evidence for long-term effects of early
stress, we
conclude that co-sleeping should have significant implications
for
infants' neurobehavioral development."

The famous 1999 study by the Consumer Product Safty Commission (a US
government department responsible for regulating cribs and beds) is
not
included here because it was published one year before the cut off.
It found
serious risk associated with co-sleeping, just as all the studies here
did.

Many people ask about Dr. Sears's research, but I can not find a
single
peer-reviewed paper every published by Dr. Sears. I have looked at
some of
his web pages, and although they often state that co-sleeping is
protective of
SIDS, the papers he cites are typically very hold (mid 1980s to
1990s). He
cites papers my McKenna and others in the same lab: Moska, and
Richard, which
did not study infants with SIDS at all.

Other web pages I've seen have vague references to "New Zealand
studies" or
"British studies", which are not specific enough to track down. I
suspect
they refer to very old research, but it is impossible to tell.

General Background Information

Odds ratios (OR) are a way of measuring extra risk. An equally risky
activity would have an OR of 1.0 Something three times as dangerous
would have an OR of 3.0. For various reasons, odds ratios of less
than 2.0 are not usually considered significant.

For comparison, the OR for getting lung cancer if you smoke is 20.0.

Carol Ann writes:
: Tell me again that it is okay to co-sleep. I'm worried that I may smother
: Morgan.

: ~Carol Ann

Hmmm. How soundly do you sleep? I know that with both Clara and Niel
Monika would be alert when either of them so much as moved. Also, how
is your bed arranged. There are no fluffy pillows, blankets or comforters
that could cover the baby's face are there? If you follow these simple
precautions, and don't drink, smoke, or use drugs, you should be safe.

How do YOU feel about it?

Larry

Carol Ann,

Joshua has an ax to grind. Before you accept his pronouncements, I
suggest your read his sources and some competing sources on the risks/
benefits fo co-sleeping. I'm sure either Barbara (Circe) or Ericka
will reply to refute some of his less provable claims.

Larry

Joshua Levy writes:
: "Carol Ann" wrote in message news:3nJec.24357$_K3.62604@attbi_s53...
: Tell me again that it is okay to co-sleep. I'm worried that I may smother
: Morgan.

: I'm not going to lie to you: co-sleeping is more dangerous than cot
: sleeping.
: How much more is a matter of debate, but the largest American study
: found
: about 20 times more dangerous. The largest Euopean study was a little
: lower.

: In the past, others have claimed to know about studies that show that
: co-sleeping is safer than crib sleeping, but they never seem to be
: able
: to post them. (But see below about McKenna and Sears.)

: Below is a lot more data:

: Co-Sleeping Safety Data (Update 3: Jan 22, 2004)

: This is a annotated bibliography covering the safety of co-sleeping
: with
: infants. I have included EVERY study, which I can find an on-line
: abstract
: (or the entire paper is on line) in English, which meets the following
: criteria:
: 1. The research was published in 2000 or later.
: 2. The research was peer reviewed.
: 3. The research focused on actual death rates (not suspected causes
: or
: mechanisms).
: 4. The research compared death rates for co-sleepers vs.
: non-co-sleepers.
: 5. The research was done in developed (not third world) countries.
: This bibliography does NOT include editorials, opinion pieces, or
: letters to
: the editor. The main sources for these abstracts are PubMed, SCIRUS,
: and web
: archives of medical journals. If you find any other studies, please
: tell me,
: so I can add them.


: Summary: of the nine studies found, seven found co-sleeping to be more
: dangerous
: than cot sleeping, and two studies found no added danger from
: co-sleeping. No
: study found co-sleeping safer than cot sleeping. Not one. Some of
: the studies
: focused on SIDS, some focused on suffocation, some covered both.

: Quotes from the Research:

: "The most conservative estimate showed that the risk of
: suffocation increased by 20-fold when infants were placed to sleep in
: adult
: beds rather than in cribs. The public should be clearly informed of
: the
: attendant risks." [SCHE03]

: "Almost all SIDS deaths in Alaska occurred in association with prone
: sleeping,
: bed sharing, or sleeping outside a crib." [GESS01]

: "bed sharing showed an increased risk of dying accidentally, when
: compared
: with infants sleeping in designated infant containers" [BEAL00]

: "Bed-sharing appears to increase the proportion of unexplained deaths,
: regardless of the position of the infant." [THOG00]

: The Papers:

: [BEAL00]
: Sudden infant death syndrome in South Australia 1968-97. Part 3: is
: bed sharing
: safe for infants?
: Beal SM, Byard RW
: J Paediatr Child Health 2000 Dec 36:552-4
: http://reviews.bmn.com/medline/searc...9&refer=scirus
: "bed sharing showed an increased risk of dying accidentally, when
: compared
: with infants sleeping in designated infant containers"

: [CARP04]
: Sudden unexplained infant death in 20 regions in Europe: case control
: study
: R G Carpenter, L M Irgens, P S Blair, P D England, P Fleming, J Huber,
: G Jorch, P Schreuder
: Lancet 2004; 363: 185-91
: http://www.thelancet.com
: "For mothers who did not smoke during pregnancy, OR for
: bed-sharing was
: very small (at 2 weeks 2·4 [1·2-4·6]) and only significant during
: the
: first 8 weeks of life."
: One way to phrase this in a one sentence headline is:
: Co-sleeping with children under 2 months old was a significant
: risk factor for SIDS.

: [CARR01]
: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Bedsharing, Parental Weight, and Age at
: Death
: Cindie Carroll-Pankhurst and Edward A. Mortimer Jr
: PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 3 March 2001, pp. 530-536
: http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ode=pediatrics
: "By demonstrating that among an urban population at high risk for
: SIDS,
: bedsharing is strongly associated with a younger age at death,
: independent
: of any other factors, this study provides evidence of a
: relationship
: between some SIDS-like deaths and parent-infant bedsharing,
: particularly
: if the parent is large."

: [FERN03]
: Sleep Environment and the Risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in an
: Urban
: Population: The Chicago Infant Mortality Study
: Fern R. Hauck, Stanislaw M. Herman, Mark Donovan, Solomon Iyasu,
: Cathryn Merrick
: Moore, Edmund Donoghue, Robert H. Kirschner, and Marian Willinger
: Pediatrics 2003; 111: 1207-1214
: http://pediatrics.aappublications.or.../111/5/S1/1207
: "Several factors related to the sleep environment during last
: sleep were
: associated with higher risk of SIDS: ... bed sharing overall (OR:
: 2.7;
: 95% CI: 1.8–4.2), bed sharing with parent(s) alone (OR: 1.9; 95%
: CI:
: 1.2–3.1), and bed sharing in other combinations (OR: 5.4; 95% CI:
: 2.8–10.2)"
:
: [GESS01]
: Association between sudden infant death syndrome and prone sleep
: position,
: bed sharing, and sleeping outside an infant crib in Alaska.
: Gessner BD, Ives GC, Perham-Hester KA.
: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
: "Almost all SIDS deaths in Alaska occurred in association with
: prone
: sleeping, bed sharing, or sleeping outside a crib."

: [IYAS03]
: Risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome among northern plains
: Indians.
: Iyasu S, Randall LL, Welty TK, Hsia J, Kinney HC, Mandell F, McClain
: M, Randall
: B, Habbe D, Wilson H, Willinger M. JAMA. 2002 Dec 4;288(21):2717-23.
: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
: Found that infants who died were more likely to co-sleep (59.4%
: vs.
: 55.4%), but this relation was not statistically significant.

: [SCHE03]
: Where Should Infants Sleep? A Comparison of Risk for Suffocation of
: Infants Sleeping in Cribs,
: Adult Beds, and Other Sleeping Locations
: N. J. Scheers, PhD, George W. Rutherford, MS and James S. Kemp, MD
: PEDIATRICS Vol. 112 No. 4 October 2003, pp. 883-889
: http://pediatrics.aappublications.or...ode=pediatrics
: "Reported deaths of infants who suffocated on sleep surfaces other
: than those designed for infants are increasing. The most
: conservative
: estimate showed that the risk of suffocation increased by 20-fold
: when
: infants were placed to sleep in adult beds rather than in cribs.
: The
: public should be clearly informed of the attendant risks."

: [THOG00]
: Sleep position and bed-sharing in sudden infant deaths: An examination
: of
: autopsy findings
: Jon R. Thogmartin MD, Charles F. Siebert, Jr MD and William A. Pellan
: AS
: From Palm Beach County Medical Examiner Office, West Palm Beach,
: Florida.
: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...f85336bdc6f88d
: The Journal of Pediatrics Volume 138, Issue 2 , February 2001, Pages
: 212-217
: "Bed-sharing appears to increase the proportion of unexplained
: deaths,
: regardless of the position of the infant."

: [WILL03]
: Are risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome different at night?
: Williams SM, Mitchell EA, Taylor BJ.
: Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, Dunedin School of
: Medicine,
: University of Otago, New Zealand.
: Arch Dis Child. 2002 Oct;87(4):274-8.
: "The interactions between time of death and bed sharing, not
: sleeping
: in a cot or bassinet, ... [several other factors] were also
: significant,
: or almost so."

: Papers Not Listed

: [ARNE01]
: Changes in the epidemiological pattern of sudden infant death syndrome
: in southeast
: Norway, 1984-1998: implications for future prevention and research.
: Arnestad M, Andersen M, Vege A , Rognum TO
: Arch Dis Child 2001 Aug 85:108-15
: "For SIDS victims, an increase in the number of infants found dead
: while
: co-sleeping is seen"
: This paper was not included above because it was unclear if the quote
: was due
: to the popularity of co-sleeping, or if the rate of death was
: increasing.

: [WILL01]
: Scott Med J. 2001 Apr;46(2):43-7.
: Sudden unexpected infant deaths in Dundee, 1882-1891: overlying or
: SIDS?
: Williams FL, Lang GA, Mage DT.
: "It might be prudent to inform parents that co-sleeping is a risk
: factor
: for SIDS and that it should therefore be avoided."
: Although this study technically fulfills all the requirements, it's
: focus on
: deaths over 100 years ago caused me not to list it above.

: [MUKA99]
: Leg Med (Tokyo). 1999 Sep;1(1):18-24.
: Sleeping environments as risk factors of sudden infant death syndrome
: in Japan.
: Mukai T, Tamaki N, Sato Y, Ohno Y, Miyazaki T, Nagamori H, Hara S,
: Endo T.
: Department of Forensic Medicine, Tokyo Medical University, 160-8402,
: Tokyo,
: Japan
: "In addition, the co-sleeping habit, which was not uncommon in
: Japan, seems
: to contribute to certain deaths of infants whose causes of death
: were
: controversial. In the investigation of SIDS, therefore, the
: sleeping
: environments, such as bedclothes and the co-sleeping habit, as
: well as
: the sleeping position should be taken into consideration as risk
: factors."
: This study was published one year before my cut-off, so it is not
: included
: above. However because many people claim data from Japan shows the
: safety of
: co-sleeping, including it here.

: Complaints About These Papers

: Mostly TBD, but here is a start:

: 1. The most common complaint about these studies is that they did not
: cover
: "safe co-sleeping", but rather reported data from all co-sleepers. So
: people
: claim that they follow "safe co-sleeping guidelines" so the research
: does not
: apply to them.

: The first thing to remember is that no one follows safe-sleeping
: guidelines,
: because there are none, or rather: there are dozens, all different!
: And
: none of them have been found to work. There is not a single study
: anywhere
: that I found which reported the same risk of death while "safe"
: co-sleeping
: (under any set of rules) as compared to crib sleeping. None.

: The second thing to remember is that, for a public health issue (like
: co-sleeping), measuring the death rate for the whole population IS the
: right
: thing to do. The question of the safety of co-sleeping is one of the
: safety for the whole population, not little groups of it.

: 2. Some co-sleeping proponents will complain that a study mixed up
: SIDS deaths
: with suffocation deaths. This argument turns into a two-step dance
: like this:
: when presented with a study showing co-sleeping leads to higher SIDS
: death rates they say "but the study confuses SIDS and suffocation" so
: it's worthless. When presented with a study showing co-sleeping leads
: to higher suffocation death rates they say "but the study confuses
: suffocation with SIDS" so it's worthless. In fact, it doesn't matter.
: A baby who dies of SIDS is just as dead as one who dies of
: suffocation.
: Some of the studies listed above examined all night time deaths
: [IYAS03, THOG00], some covered SIDS only [CARR01, GESS01], others
: covered suffocation only [SCHE03]. All found the same result: higher
: death rates for co-sleeping children.

: 3. Another argument sometimes heard is "but co-sleeping is natural, so
: it must be safe, people co-slept for thousands of years, and still
: do in many part of the world". This is not really a complant about
: the studies, but an alternate argument that they must somehow be
: flawed. But this argument itself is deeply flawed, the thousands
: of years that people co-slept also had infant death rates much higher
: than we have now! In many places and times, HALF the babies died,
: a death rate that would never be acceptable now. Similarly, the
: places
: in the world today where co-sleeping is very popular often have
: infant mortality rates far higher than the US. Indeed, this whole
: argument can be phrased as an anti-cosleeping one: people in ...



: Some Famous Papers That Didn't Make It (and Why)

: The McKenna papers are very popular on AP and co-sleeping web sites,
: but none are included for two reasons: they are all way too old, and
: none of them measured actualy death rates in children. Really! These
: papers which supposedly justify co-sleeping as an anti-SIDS method
: NEVER studied babies who died of SIDS!

: A more serious problem with McKenna's work is that it was based on
: a discredited theory of SIDS. The modern view of McKenna work is
: that is shows a serious problem with co-sleeping. That co-sleeping
: infants are under stress. For example:

: [HUNS02]
: The sleep of co-sleeping infants when they are not co-sleeping:
: evidence
: that co-sleeping is stressful
: Hunsley M, Thoman EB Dev Psychobiol. 2002
: Jan;40(1):14-22.
: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract
: "Each of these differences indicates a markedly lower arousal
: level in the long-term co-sleeping infants. This sleep pattern
: has been repeatedly found to be an indicator of stress. We infer
: that a major source of stress for these infants is the experience
: of sleep disturbance documented for infants when they were
: co-sleeping.
: Based on extensive evidence for long-term effects of early
: stress, we
: conclude that co-sleeping should have significant implications
: for
: infants' neurobehavioral development."

: The famous 1999 study by the Consumer Product Safty Commission (a US
: government department responsible for regulating cribs and beds) is
: not
: included here because it was published one year before the cut off.
: It found
: serious risk associated with co-sleeping, just as all the studies here
: did.

: Many people ask about Dr. Sears's research, but I can not find a
: single
: peer-reviewed paper every published by Dr. Sears. I have looked at
: some of
: his web pages, and although they often state that co-sleeping is
: protective of
: SIDS, the papers he cites are typically very hold (mid 1980s to
: 1990s). He
: cites papers my McKenna and others in the same lab: Moska, and
: Richard, which
: did not study infants with SIDS at all.

: Other web pages I've seen have vague references to "New Zealand
: studies" or
: "British studies", which are not specific enough to track down. I
: suspect
: they refer to very old research, but it is impossible to tell.

: General Background Information

: Odds ratios (OR) are a way of measuring extra risk. An equally risky
: activity would have an OR of 1.0 Something three times as dangerous
: would have an OR of 3.0. For various reasons, odds ratios of less
: than 2.0 are not usually considered significant.

: For comparison, the OR for getting lung cancer if you smoke is 20.0.

Hmmm. How soundly do you sleep? I know that with both Clara and Niel
Monika would be alert when either of them so much as moved. Also, how
is your bed arranged. There are no fluffy pillows, blankets or comforters
that could cover the baby's face are there? If you follow these simple
precautions, and don't drink, smoke, or use drugs, you should be safe.

How do YOU feel about it?

Larry

Well, I wrap Morgan in a blanket and place her head and shoulders in the arc
of the boppy pillow so that I don't accidentally roll on to her. I have,
however, fallen asleep while holding her or nursing her lying down.

Last nite I had the bed to myself (with the Chihuahua of course) and was
able to place Morgan further away from my body thus reducing the risk of my
rolling on top of her. Additionally I lie vertically, but place her
horizontally on the bed so her feet are pointing at me. I figured that
would also reduce the risk of her rolling.

I feel mostly okay about it, but I don't want to wake up and find her not
breathing. I admit, I'm also one to walk up and see if she is breathing
about every 3 mins while she is sleeping.

~Carol Ann

I have,
however, fallen asleep while holding her or nursing her lying down.

Carol Ann dear, being able to fall asleep while nursing her lying down
is really one of the main points of the whole exercise of cosleeping
with an infant. So that you can get some rest too and not be dragging
during other times when you need to be alert. We were remarkably
well-rested during those early weeks and months, when most parents of
newborns are walking zombies.

-Karen, mom to Henry 3 3/4 and someone due 4/24/04-

"Carol Ann" wrote in message
news:QKYec.30382$xn4.57099@attbi_s51...
Well, I wrap Morgan in a blanket and place her head and shoulders in the
arc
of the boppy pillow so that I don't accidentally roll on to her. I have,

This sounds like a SIDs risk, because the Boppy all around her head will
restrict air flow.

"Carol Ann" wrote in message
news:QKYec.30382$xn4.57099@attbi_s51...


Last nite I had the bed to myself (with the Chihuahua of course) and was
able to place Morgan further away from my body thus reducing the risk of
my
rolling on top of her.

You just plain aren't going to roll onto her.

That story about the woman kicking her comforter onto the baby who died, I
just don't buy it. Look, that was an "I know someone who knew someone who
said..." story.

What I did with Meg, was I used a fairly stiff quilt for us to sleep under
that wouldn't have been able to conform to the contours of her face and
block her nose. Note the nose opens up to the bottom, which is why they can
fall asleep snuggled completely into our breasts and still breathe. You
just don't want them to be able to "inhale" the bedding, I would think.

I also would nurse her to sleep, and then if I was still awake, I would
scoot my body down toward the food of the bed so my head was low enough that
if I was completely covered with the quilt, it was still at a level below
her head.

DH used his own quilt, DD and I used another.

I am more worried about offgassing of all the funny chemicals in the
mattress/pillow, than suffocation, and I'm not that worried about
offgassing.

I haven't worried much about all of this now that she is much older. She's
almost six months old, over 18 pounds and is not going to suffocate herself.

-- Dagny

"Dagny" wrote in message
. ..

"Carol Ann" wrote in message
news:QKYec.30382$xn4.57099@attbi_s51...


Last nite I had the bed to myself (with the Chihuahua of course) and was
able to place Morgan further away from my body thus reducing the risk of
my
rolling on top of her.

You just plain aren't going to roll onto her.

That story about the woman kicking her comforter onto the baby who died, I
just don't buy it. Look, that was an "I know someone who knew someone who
said..." story.

It's not that far removed. I know the lady who did the prints of the dead
baby who died from being smothered by the comforter. You think she made it
up?