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Did you go to the second page of your PDF? It details how to cosleep safely. It says that the vast majority of SIDS deaths take place when the mothers smoke, and "Most studies have shown no increased risk from babies bed-sharing with non-smoking mothers." Then there is a list of circumstances which makes it unsafe. Cosleeping in itself is not unsafe; cosleeping unsafely is.
Heck here's a quote from page 3 - my bold.
Quote:
There is evidence that sharing a sleep surface with a baby increases the risk of sudden infant death and fatal sleeping accidents in some circumstances. There is presently insufficient evidence to issue a blanket statement either for or against this infant care practice. SIDS and Kids recommends sleeping a baby in a cot next to the parents’ bed for the first six to twelve months of life as this has been shown to lower the risk of SIDS and sleeping accidents.
There is no such thing as "co-sleeping"...........YOU ARE ALL SLEEPING in the same bed, nothing co about it.
Also, I never had my kids in our bed, it is not necessary and as they grew up the never had to rely on stuffed animals, favorite blankets, night lights or any such thing to sleep in their own beds all the time.
Also, I noticed that someone put that it is best to NOT have pillows, blankets, etc.........not a chance, if I am going to sleep I am going to be warm and comfortable with a blanket or two and at least 3 pillows if not more because I will be in MY bed with MY husband and MY children will be in THEIR OWN BEDS.
How can you ensure you "co-sleep safely" while you are asleep????????????????
It is NOT that difficult.
1. Don't smoke or drink. Mother's are very attuned to their newborns. They wake pretty easily next to their babies when they are attuned.
2. Put the baby on his or her back to sleep.
3. Use a firm mattress, not a soft one.
4. Use light weight covers that cannot cover the baby's face.
5. You can also use a side-sleeper that allows the baby to have his or her own space, but still be right next to mom.
While there is evidence that accidental suffocation can and does occur in bed-sharing situations, in the overwhelming number of cases (sometimes in 100% of them) in which a real overlay by an adult occurs, extremely unsafe sleeping condition or conditions can be identified including situations where adults are not aware that the infant was in the bed, or an adult sleeping partners who are drunk or desensitized by drugs, or indifferent to the presence of the baby. In these cases often the suffocation occurs while the parent and infant sleep on a sofa or couch together.
* Heron's (1) recent cross-sectional study of middle class English children shows that amongst the children who "never" slept in their parents bed there was a trend to be harder to control, less happy, exhibit a greater number of tantrums. Moreover, he found that those children who never were permitted to bed-share were actually more fearful than children who always slept in their parents bed, for all of the night (1).
* In a survey of adult college age subjects, Lewis and Janda (2) report that males who coslept with their parents between birth and five years of age had significantly higher self-esteem, experienced less guilt and anxiety, and reported greater frequency of sex. Boys who coslept between 6 and 11 years of age also had higher self-esteem. For women, cosleeping during childhood was associated with less discomfort about physical contact and affection as adults. (While these traits may be confounded by parental attitudes, such findings are clearly inconsistent with the folk belief that cosleeping has detrimental long-term effects on psycho-social development.
* Crawford (3) found that women who coslept as children had higher self esteem than those who did not. Indeed, cosleeping appears to promote confidence, self-esteem, and intimacy, possibly by reflecting an attitude of parental acceptance (Lewis and Janda 1988).
You are relying on dated information. 1988 is a quarter of a century old, written back when no one really knew what caused cot death.
SIDS Australia is promoting "safe sleep", with fact sheets dated 2012.
Safe Sleep means your baby has its own bed...this is to lower the risk. Co sleeping increases it.
It's math. Australia leads the world in SIDS research. We had the highest rate, now we've got the lowest, which makes us world leaders in its reduction.
Because of the research...ie, the math, SIDS has gone from being relatively common to "rarely heard of".
It hasn't been one change in particular, it's been research, statistics, and recommendations made by scientists (not baby nurses) that has lowered the rate.
If people didn't know not to put their babies on their backs and not to smoke before now, then that would explain the high SIDS rates. All of those recommendations on your fact sheet were common knowledge here in the USA when I had my first child in 2001. People all over the world co-sleep with their babies, in Australia included. It really has no bearing on SIDS. On suffocation when it's not done safely, yes. But SIDS itself is less common in cosleeping babies.
If people didn't know not to put their babies on their backs and not to smoke before now, then that would explain the high SIDS rates. All of those recommendations on your fact sheet were common knowledge here in the USA when I had my first child in 2001. People all over the world co-sleep with their babies, in Australia included. It really has no bearing on SIDS. On suffocation when it's not done safely, yes. But SIDS itself is less common in cosleeping babies.
This is the exact opposite of all literature I have read, I assume you have a (credible) link?
Did you read the 2005 fact sheet that I provided? There is a graph that shows that as the rate of children and parents co-sleeping more than 5 hours a night increases, the rate of SIDS decreases. There is a linear relationship. This is a study that involved probably 20 countries worldwide, including Australia, which does not have anywhere near the lowest SIDS numbers in the world. In fact, Australia is looking pretty pitiful. Of course, you have a really high rate of NOT co-sleeping too.
The countries with the highest rates of cosleeping more than 5 hours a night have the lowest rates of SIDS. Or maybe this study was also not credible, like all the other literature we have provided?
Quote:
Originally Posted by cindersslipper
This is the exact opposite of all literature I have read, I assume you have a (credible) link?
"Co-sleeping" is safe as long as mother isn't an alcoholic or using drugs and passes out -- normally the mother is very tuned into the baby, if the baby sneezes she hears it even while asleep.
SIDS actually started out being called "crib death" the babies who died of it were in cribs.
I agree, co-sleeping is safe as long as you do it safely. I found I would wake constantly while co-sleeping whenever my baby moved.
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