As I have mentioned, I am now starting my 6 week placement in paediatrics and we had some very ineteresting lectures about SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) which used to be called 'cot-death' in the olden days.
Our lectures were given by a Paediatric Pathologist; in a nut-shell she is a Consultant doctor whose job it is to look at pieces of tissue from the human body under the microscope to determine what's going wrong.
Obviously, in cot-deaths she gets dead babies to examine, to see if she can determine the cause of death.
She was telling us in the lecture that in most cases of SIDS an explanation can be found; usually baby prematurity or a (previously undetected) metabolic disease or something horrible like child abuse.
However, in some cases an 'obvious' medical cause is not found; these cases are called Sudden Unexplained Death Syndrome (SUDS).
However, she said that basically every single one of the unexplained cases that she has investigated in her time had one key similar feature in the story -- the babies were all co-sleeping in the parent's bed.
She said that unexplained cot-deaths "basically don't happen if the baby is sleeping in its own crib" (her words not mine).
She then went on to say how the baby probably dies due to asphyxiation from the blanket going over its head, which the parent's don't realise because they are alseep.
Other probable risk factors for SUDS are babies sleeping on their stomach or side (mental note to self for future: DON'T EVER PUT A BABY IN THIS POSITION!) and also if the parents smoke (because this effects both the baby before it's born, and then the air in the house), and also an over-heated house.
anyway, I just thought the co-sleeping thing was kinda interesting. Obviously, it doesn't mean that this will happen to all babies who co-sleep in their parent's bed! Of course not!! She's just saying that babies who co-sleep have a higher risk than babies who don't.
I just found it interesting that someone in the job for 20 years could say, so unequivocally, that in her experience all the cases of cot-deaths for which no medical abnormality etc could be found, they were all sleeping in their parent's bed.
I'm not saying I support her views or anything, frankly I have no clue as I haven't studied the scientific literature! But I just thought I'd blog it for interest because it interested me.
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6 comments:
Antonia, I am a 53yr.old mother of three. All my children slept in our bed from the earliest days till 12- 18 mths. approximately. (when they made the decision to leave).This was done to make life a little easier for breastfeeding and one of my daughters was very fussy and would not sleep at all if not between my husband and myself. At the beginning this was totally alien for me, as I am a qualified Registered Nurse and Midwife and I'd been given the same message that you have received today. If I hadn't agreed to this life would have been very miserable and totally exhausting!
Hello anonymous,
Thank you so much for your comments!
I totally understand where you are coming from; not having children myself I clearly can't say what I'd do, but co-sleeping seems like such a cute, sweet and convenient idea! I'd always considered doing it when I have children.
That's why what the lecturer said really struck me and made an impression on me.
Oh, also, I probably should've said this in my post, but SIDS only really applies to babies in the first few months of life.
but thanks for your comments!!
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My girlfriends are really big into attachment parenting which really pushes the whole family bed.
We tried it with our daughter for the first year because we had heard how crucial it is for bonding and breastfeeding, etc.
Let me tell you, I will NEVER do it again. EVER! My poor husband, daughter and I did not get good sleep for one year. When in desperation I FINALLY placed my daughter in her own crib and let her cry for 45 minutes before she finally slept for 12 HOURS STRAIGHT! We all slept solid that night. The next child will have her own bed right next to my bed so I can nurse her and then let her get some rest and myself.
I have also heard about the dangers and inevitably there is always someone who says "my child didn't die." My question, "are you really willing to place your child at risk?"
Antonia, I would like to tell my story.
Having had several children my husband and I found it eaisier to have our babies in our bed, but my doctor husband always feared for their safty. Many times he would wake in the middle of the night and put the baby into the craddle by the bed. This of coarse was temporary because they soon awoke and he would be up again bring them BACK! :) Then we found a new little co-sleeper that you put in the bed between the two of you. It made both of us more comfortable with the baby in our bed. There are a lot of helpful products out there to safeguard against you rolling on the baby, the baby rolling over, the blankets becoming an issue and whatever else you can think of. So don't fear, jump right in the water is GREAT! We can hardly wait to see little Antonia!
Hi Antonia! This post caught my attention because my husband-to-be and all of his siblings were co-sleeping babies and we hope to co-sleep with our own infants someday. Now, we're definitely not experts on this, but we've been made to understand that co-sleeping has been proven to actually DECREASE the risk of SIDS when done correctly. The cause of SIDS is unknown, but I think that there is some theories about the baby sleeping so deeply that she actually stops breathing. Having the baby sleep right beside her parents may help her to pattern her breathing after her mother. Isn't that awesome?
I haven't had enough time to read the entire site myself yet, but you may find this site (http://www.babyreference.com/sleepingandSIDS.htm) interesting. I found it by googling "co-sleeping" and "SIDS."
We've co-slept with all of our eight children. I've had more fear of them rolling off the bed than SIDS. My husband would worry about rolling on them so we would push the bed against the wall, put the baby next to the wall and me next to the baby. They always moved to their own beds at about age 2 before the next baby arrived. I had one child who could not sleep through the night until we put her in bed with her sister. She just had to be touching someone until she turned about six. Since we haven't had any new pregnancies as of late, the now three year old is still in our bed. We've been trying to encourage her to sleep in her own bed, but inevitably at around 1 A.M. she is back in bed with us.
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