Baby Care

Posts Tagged ‘rest’

For many years pediatricians gently (and sometimes rigidly) convinced parents that their children should sleep in cots, carrycots, cradles, baskets – anywhere, just not in the parental bed. Mothers and fathers – especially in the last few years – on the contrary, continue arguing with the doctors, claiming that the most natural and beneficial for the child is to share a bed with parents. Those preferring to sleep with a child believe that it contributes to successful breast-feeding, strengthening the connection between mother and child and even helps to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SVDS). However – is there any actual confirmation of this? And besides, is it safe to sleep with the child?

Here is the answer. Recent studies have confirmed everything that pediatricians have been saying for many years. For children there is nothing good in sharing a bed with parents. Moreover – there is a certain risk. And before putting baby to sleep with you in one bed, you need to understand the possible consequences. The study involved cases of infant mortality in the United States over a twenty-year-period ending with 2004. Researchers collected information on all children who died suddenly. Causes of death in most cases have not been established – they were explained as SVDS. SVDS statistics, for a twenty-year-period showed a favorable trend in the time when the campaign «sleeping on the back» was being carried – after a study it was found that for children who sleep on the stomach, the risk of sudden infant death syndrome is higher than for others.

But there is another category of infant deaths that pediatricians find an explanation: the accidental asphyxiation and strangulation in bed. The number of cases increased four times during the last 20 years. Of course, some of these cases have nothing to do with this issue. Thus, the cause of 15% of deaths was the unsuccessful design of children’s cot. However, more than 50% of cases of suffocation in the sleep occurred in a situation where the baby and his parents were sleeping together. And, as a rule, the proximate cause of the death of a baby was when of the parents press a child down with his weight in a dream.
It is necessary to understand how high the risk of such a tragic outcome is, and therefore decide for themselves whether to share a bed with a child or not.