OK I need to say this: to new parents

[Circe]

Successfully and safely co-slept with our first son. 2nd and 3rd children didn't like it so it wasn't for them.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

Please don't get defensive ladies. Please. This isn't about you. Its about kids. Parents swore for years that riding in a car with their child on their lap was the safest way to ride. They were wrong and it took decades to "prove" it to people.

I've seen the investigations. I have done the autopsies. I have held the dead babies. Not one. Not one infant death is worth is worth trying to prove that you an do this safely.

There is no way for you to know that you are the one person who is absolutely certain they can do it and will "instantly wake up". Are there issues many time? Yes. But not the majority. Overseas they often do not sleep in beds as soft as ours.


Please.

 

[annie3001]

i co-slept with my children, but rarely did i actually sleep. now my kids, 5 and 3, if we did it again, i would def put them to their crib after nursing. i think nursing draines you and your body, you nautraly get tired and want to sleep too. i dont know how we did it. but my hubby slept on the couch, which ended up giving us the whole bed to ourselves.

 

[debilorrah]

I am simply amazed that after hearing ONE child has died from being smothered, people still wish to defend co-sleeping!! I never, ever fed my son in bed, and I quite often fell asleep with him in my arms in the rocking chair. I always kept pillows around the chair too in case I dropped him while sleeping.

After ONE child dies from smothering while co-sleeping it is no longer ok no matter who you are.

 

[chics in the sun]

Thank you for posting this, 'I have what' (OP). I work with teen mothers and have read many of the same studies. Last year (before I was at that school) one of the girls lost her infant this way. It is not worth the risk. I harp about safe sleeping to my 'girls' so much I'm sure they get tired of hearing it, but I don't care - it's important.
I also recently read a study that looked at what were formerly classified as SIDS deaths in Orange County, CA. When they started asking more questions to the families they found that a very large percentage of the SIDS deaths were actually suffocation deaths - in beds and on sofas. I have never seen any statistics that SIDS is more common in cribs, but could it be because the deaths in the beds are classified correctly as suffocation deaths? While the ONLY deaths in cribs are actual cases of SIDS? I'm betting that may be a plausable explanation. I'd have to look into it further.
I also watched one of the Discovery shows - Bringing Home Baby or something like that - where the couple falls asleep in bed with the 3 day old. The infant rolls off the fathers chest, onto the floor, and lays their screeming for 10 minutes before they wake up. (It was caught on a night camera the show had in their bedroom).
I slept with my son next to my bed in a bassinett. I've also read studies that both the babies AND the parents get better quality sleep when they don't co-sleep in the same bed.

 

[paperdragonfarm]

debiraymond, by your logic then no child should ride in motor vehicles, be allowed in germ-filled public places, play with toys of any sort, be around animals of any kind or be allowed to be upright for any extended amount of time. Life in inherently filled with risks and as sad as it is when something happens to a child, it is still ultimately up to the parents to decide. As you did with feeding while in a chair.
In our case, my family rarely used a crib or co-sleeping. Our kids were suspended in a hammock just at shoulder height over the bed. This helped with the horrendous colic and gave us the benefits of co-sleeping with out the suicide of putting a baby on a water bed. Getting peed on was an occasional worry, but when isn't it as a parent?

 

[Glenmar]

Wow. People sure do feel passionate about this subject. Who knew!! I do not have kids. As babies my brothers and I always slept in our own rooms. I think it's kind of wierd for people to want to sleep with their kids.

 

[babylady4]

When you have a child is it far more convenient to have the infant next to you for feeding and changing purposes during the night, plus it helps with the prevention of SIDS.

I slept with my kids in a bassinet next to my bed until they were 6-9 months old. I wanted a decent nights sleep without constant worry of possibly rolling onto the infant.

I think people should make thei own decision about this: they know the risks and benefits.

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

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I agree! apart from this risk it really does not help the baby to learn to sleep alone.

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

Quote:
what logic are you talking about? she never said any of that? sheesh