New SIDS Research

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - a label for infant deaths that are otherwise unexplainable. Usually occurring between 2 and 6 months of age.

Certainly it has become a part of our vocabulary...

There has been a dramatic decrease in the incidence of SIDS since public awareness campaigns were launched and since parents have been instructed to have babies sleep on their backs rather than their tummies.

Although there are a number of factors that have been identified, including sleeping position, soft objects in cribs, the use of crib bumpers or pillows, and smoking, a recent study identified co-sleeping as one of the biggest risk factors.

Here's my problem with that...

If you look more closely, the data would suggest that co-sleeping under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol is the biggest risk factor - not necessarily co-sleeping in of itself.

I co-slept with both Owen and Alex for the first 6-8 weeks of their lives. It made it much easier to nurse them at night and gave me the chance to get some much needed sleep.

I was very careful about it. They were protected from falling by a long cushion, they were not under any blankets, only one of us was in the bed (me), and I was certainly not drinking or using drugs.

What worries me about this type of research reviewed on Yahoo, is that they don't present all the facts. Now some people who could safely co-sleep may choose not to based on a quick summary of a very narrow research study.

If I had a third baby, I would co-sleep again. There is nothing in this research to make me change my approach.