Comments on: Letter to the editor in response to: “Co-sleeping fears prevented call for parents to abandon defective cribs”

By: phdinparenting

phdinparenting — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:20:02 +0000

Thanks Loukia. Unfortunately, it didn’t get published.

By: Loukia

Loukia — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:26:29 +0000

Great letter, Annie… I hope it got published? (And I’m sorry to say I don’t remember if you’ve already told me the answer to this!) I too co-sleep, as you know, and I love it. In fact, I might even go so far as to say it is safer, in some ways – for instance, you can hear your baby breathing… you can sense/hear if something is wrong, etc. And besides, my baby (and my oldest son, when he was younger) LOVE(D) having me sleep beside them. And I love it, too. It’s amazing, and it can absoslutely be safe!

By: coffeewithjulie

coffeewithjulie — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:51:40 +0000

It makes me sick to my stomach to think that Health Canada actually delayed the recall. Your letter articulates my thoughts exactly!

By: Zellion

Zellion — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:18:18 +0000

I had a big long post about how my husband and I came into bedsharing with our baby, and decided against all advice that it was best for us, but never posted it as it rambled a bit. As I was lying in bed this morning with my sleeping husband and sleeping son, I realized something; when we lived with our shar-pei, no one thought it odd that he slept with us and shared our bed half the time. (Half the time he was on a pile of blankets on the floor, half the time in the bed with us.) Especially in the winter when it was cold, no one batted an eyelash when we spoke about sleeping with Jack. Even when my mother-in-law’s dog would get lonely and join us in the bed and we would have TWO adults and TWO 60 lb dogs sharing a queen size bed, (boy was that crowded,) no one accused us of spoiling the dogs or having an unhealthy relationship with them.

And yet sleeping with our son is some bizarre, hurtful practice that must be stopped? What a messed-up little world we live in.

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 05:27:50 +0000

I’m just back home from a visit with my inlaws, and my MIL was concerned that I’m spoiling my 10 month old by taking her into bed with me when she has trouble falling asleep after about 3 a.m. Doesn’t worry me at all – I don’t believe you can spoil a 10 month old with that kind of treatment. It’s what she needs and it lets me get a bit more sleep, at least on those nights that she’s willing to go back to sleep at all.

But then my MIL also took a long time to accept that I would breastfeed my kids back when my oldest was born, and now she’s a fan… until I get past a year. Then she’s fidgety again.

But concern about the possibility that parents might cosleep with their babies is a horrible reason to delay a recall! If the recall needs doing, get moving.

By: Claire

Claire — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:14:59 +0000

Here here!

By: Abbie

Abbie — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 14:48:53 +0000

I was raised in a co-sleeping household. It always just made sense to me, and even when we were older we’d drag our mattresses into my parents’ room in the summer because they had air conditioning. Now my parents co-sleep with the dogs

However, my husband is an active sleepwalker, who talks every night and gets up and walks around at least once a week. I’ve been bumped, rolled over and pushed around by him, so I know that our bed will not be the safest environment for our baby. I plan to have a bassinet in our room on my side of the bed, and see how that works. Our baby’s due in March, and perhaps I’ll co-sleep with him during naps or when my husband isn’t home. I think a big part of parenting (funny, since I don’t have kids yet… but anyway) is thinking rationally and making the best decision for your family.

By: tjwriter

tjwriter — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 13:06:43 +0000

Here in the US, in my home state of Indiana in particular, there was a Public Service Announcement created to air on the local stations that is basically scare tactics to denounce cosleeping. The pdf link is a letter introducing the compaign. A link to the PSA can be found on the page in the second link.

http://www.indianakidscantwait.org/pdf/SafeSleepPressRelease7_6_09.pdf

http://www.in.gov/dcs/2456.htm

There were a rash of “cosleeping” deaths earlier this year. The local one that bothered me was a baby that died while sleeping on the couch with his parents, who were high on meth and marijuana. The official cause of death had “caused by sleeping with the parents” in it, which sickens me to no end because it specifically called out cosleeping, but not the fact that the parents were high.

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2009/apr/09/father-held-in-babys-suffocation-death/

Of course with the recalled 2 million drop side cribs because of a suffocation hazard, it’s the largest in US. The drop side could come away and the baby could slide down and become trapped and die. So we know that cribs are not safe either.

Where are we supposed to put our babies to sleep if none of the sleep environments are safe, including the recommended, almighty crib? I’m thinking of putting together a letter to submit to the state of Indiana regarding their video. It’s sickening and designed to do nothing more than frighten young, uneducated parents. If they really wanted to make a difference, they’d create and mandate a free educational program for parents-to-be.

By: nicole

nicole — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 09:34:13 +0000

I have been an out of the closet co-sleeper since day one. I am lucky to have a pediatrician who is supportive of this. She seems to be a huge annomaly- in fact the other doctor in the same office gives windy lectures telling new parents that co-sleeping is a death with. uuugh!!!! We had to be sneaky with the hospital stay when phoebe was born. An effective loophole was simply leaving her at the breast- when the nurse (who came just to make sure you weren’t sleeping with you baby) came by she assumed phoebe was just nursing because of the way she was holding on those first nights. So sneaky teehee I had a drug free birth so I was well within my faculties so I felt safe in my decision to bedshare in the hospital.

By: Risa

Risa — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 05:49:13 +0000

Superbly written! Bravo! I completely agree!