Comments on: 8.8 deaths per 100,000 population

By: Infant Mortality Campaign Depicts Knife In Bed With Baby | Care2 Causes

Infant Mortality Campaign Depicts Knife In Bed With Baby | Care2 Causes — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:48:17 +0000

[...] [...]

By: Fun with Analogies: Co-Sleeping and Knives, Car Travel and Guns — PhD in Parenting

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 02:09:50 +0000

[...] been over this before. Statistically, co-sleeping is as dangerous as traveling by car (really, read the stats). But the health authorities ignore that. When I wrote about this [...]

By: The truth about cosleeping « earthmamadoula

The truth about cosleeping « earthmamadoula — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:56:22 +0000

[...] of the most common reasons for infant suffocation in a bedsharing scenario (which is, by the way, statistically as dangerous as travelling in a car – a risk most parents choose to ‘inflict’ upon their children without a second [...]

By: Rae

Rae — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 05:14:33 +0000

When I was a child, and I had nightmares, I would crawl in my dad’s bed. I remember doing it when I was 8 or 9. He’d ask if I was OK, and we’d both go back to sleep. Thus, when my own kids were born, I wanted to bring them into the bed. My (now ex) husband said this was THE WORST IDEA EVER. In the end, we compromised. I was not willing to get up to nurse, so he would wake, bring me the baby, we’d nurse and he’d put her back to bed. Too much work IMO, and I was having terrible nightmares.. With #2 – He settled for a bassinet beside the bed, which she slept in intermittently. Eventually though, both ended up wandering into our bed, and when he felt crowded, he would leave.

With child #3, I had a new hubby and laid down the law about how sleeping was done – and he was thankfully excited for it! At that point we already had the then 2 and 4 year old girls in and out of our bed as they needed/wanted comfort so it wasn’t a big deal. We got a sidecar crib that was level with our bed, and made sure there was no gap to fall into. I made our space as safe as possible, with room for all of us to sleep comfortably apart, or snuggle and nurse. Now at 2.5, he starts the night in his room, but frequently ends up with us or his now 6.5 year old sister – his choice. It’s nice to have them come sleep with us – even if our bed feels small.

Like all things, education and safety are key IMO, and if you don’t like the way I parent, don’t do it my way!

They are all healthy, confident, and alive. I wouldn’t change it for the world, and

By: Sylvia@MaMammalia

Sylvia@MaMammalia — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 03:34:04 +0000

As a dedicated co-sleeping mama, I’m actually very surprised at how high the death rate is for co-sleeping. I guess the way some people drive really is reflective of the way they are in their own beds — uninformed, negligent, under the influence, or too exhausted to function without coffee. Sad.

By: Dave Higgs-Vis @ Folkabout Baby

Dave Higgs-Vis @ Folkabout Baby — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 03:13:44 +0000

Wow! I can’t believe that they can call co-sleeping dangerous if the statistics line up like that. Ugh, governments…

By: Sara

Sara — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 00:35:01 +0000

my 6-week-old currently sleeps with us. we had no intention of bed sharing, and don’t continue to do it long term. but when my husband and i discovered it was the ONLY way he would sleep, we chose that over continuing with the non-functional over exhaustion that had gripped both of us. after all, we still had to find a way to take care of my 2-year-old (who never co-slept with us). All babies are different. And I would say it would be more dangerous (to both the physical and emotional health of my family) for me to keep trying to keep my baby in his crib and getting ABSOLUTELY NO sleep, then trying to drive my toddler to pre-school, run errands, cook, etc. Once my son will sleep in his crib, he will. Until then, we’ll keep him in bed with us.

By: Babywearing gave me mothering wings | PhD in Parenting

Babywearing gave me mothering wings | PhD in Parenting — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 13:16:48 +0000

[...] bankrupt companies that make products that support those practices. I’ve written about this before as it relates to co-sleeping and I’m saddened and angry to have to write about it as it relates to baby [...]

By: phdinparenting

phdinparenting — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 04:24:18 +0000

I read somewhere (sorry, but I don’t have the reference right now) that upwards of 70% of parents bring their baby to bed with them at some point. Since most babies are probably spending more time sleeping per day than people usually spend in their cars, I don’t think the comparison is that off base. Obviously it isn’t a perfect comparison because we don’t have perfect stats on the different places people sleep or the different ways that they travel (believe me, I looked…), but I still think it is relevant and appropriate. My point was not to say that the 8.8 out of 100,000 is exactly equivalent, but to say that it is ridiculous given the similarity in the stats that the approaches taken are so vastly different (i.e. saying “don’t bed share” versus saying “it is okay to travel by car if you do X, Y and X”).

By: Robert

Robert — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 03:24:25 +0000

Again, while appreciate your article I’m just pointing out a weakness in your argument which you are still not seeing. Let me also mention that I do have my 8 month old daughter sharing a bed with us so I’m not knocking the idea.

In order for the statistic about infant deaths to be useful it should be the number of deaths compared to the number of infants that bed share (which I do not know), not the amount of live births. For example, and only for illustrative purposes, if out of 100,000 live births, only 1,000 shared a bed then the relevant number would be 8.8 deaths per 1,000 children because that would accurately represent the risk involved in bed sharing. As for the automotive example, because nearly the entire population would be exposed to the risk of automotive accidents in some way shape or form, using the entire population would still be substantially accurate.

I hope that helps clarify the point that I was making.