Co-Sleeping Safely

As I searched for articles to include in yesterday's post, I came across evidence of what seemed to be an epidemic of co-sleeping deaths in Milwaukee, WI. Here are my thoughts:

There are a lot of idiots in the world, and unfortunately many of them are parents. And apparently many of these idiot parents are not practicing safe sleep habits with their babies in Milwaukee. According to news reports out of Wisconsin, 5 babies & toddlers have died so far in 2010 "from co-sleeping." In response, the Milwaukee Health Department has launched an anti-co-sleeping campaign, including ads showing an adult bed with a tombstone instead of a headboard.

Unfortunately, further investigation reveals that many idiots are also apparently forensic scientists, pediatricians, "experts" on parenting or sleep, or Health Commissioners. The details of these Milwaukee "co-sleeping" deaths reveal an interesting and sad trend of unsafe co-sleeping practices, or of other unsafe infant sleep practices being considered "co-sleeping". A breakdown of the 5 tragic deaths:

1. Baby Boy, whose father who had been drinking alcohol then fell asleep on the couch with his baby.
2.  Baby Keilysha, who was bottlefed and sharing a bed with her mother and 2 year old brother.
3.  Baby Megan, whose parents had been drinking wine.
4.  Baby Aiden, who slept alone the entire night in his mother's bed where he did not usually sleep.
5.  Baby Zyeir, who slept in a bed with his 27 year old uncle and 5 year old sister.

My heart goes out to these parents whose carelessness cost their babies' lives, but who surely did not intend to kill their babies. But these incidents could have been avoided, & the solution is not to eliminate co-sleeping altogether. There are many resources to help parents practice safe co-sleeping,  like this article.  Basically, never ever co-sleep if you are a smoker, drinker, or on medication that impairs any of your senses (i.e. NyQuil or Zoloft, as opposed to say Pepto Bismal). Don't let your baby sleep with siblings, extended family, or non-relatives. Don't fall asleep with your baby on the couch. There also seems to be quite a bit of evidence that breastfeeding moms are much more aware of their babies, presumably because of the hormonal changes caused by breastfeeding.

I think it is a major problem in the medical and parenting communities that such a wide variety of practices are being labelled as "co-sleeping". The Milwaukee Health Commission seems to be particularly loosey-goosey with their labelling, as only one of the 5 incidents so far this year was actually a baby, Baby Megan, who regularly slept with her mother and father and was doing so the night she died, and in that case alcohol use may have been a contributing factor and the cause of death was never actually determined (as opposed to cases that are clearly suffocation deaths.)

To use incidents like these ones to begin an anti-co-sleeping crusade is disingenuous and unhelpful to parents. Health officials, medical professionals, and the rest of us should all strive for clarity in the terms we use, especially when babies' lives are at stake. It is good to know that there are safe and unsafe ways to co-sleep, and to inform parents what those are. It is not helpful to lump drunk fathers passed out on couches together with sober breastfeeding mothers in order to advocate the elimination of co-sleeping. 

I think these tragic deaths and subsequent co-sleeping backlash are a good reminder to all of us who think we are co-sleeping safely to re-examine our sleep set-ups, and maybe even make some changes. But unless you realize that you are not a good candidate for co-sleeping (like you have a health condition for which you have to take a medicine that impairs your senses, or you are a smoker, etc.), that change should be something like giving up that occasional glass of wine, or your fluffy pillow, just to be on the safe side. Or to buy a co-sleeper so baby has their own safe place right next to you.  It shouldn't be to kick baby out of bed out of fear.

You can read more about what's going on in Milwaukee by checking out the Milkwaukee Journal Sentinel. A google news search for "co-sleeping death" unfortunately will return many stories of tragic deaths like the ones in Milwaukee across the globe. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on dangers of co-sleeping