I am co-sleeping with our newborn 3wks. I just read in a pamphlet today that SIDS assoc doesn't recommend co-sleeping as it increases the risk of SIDS.
I had heard the opposite as long as certain conditions are being met ie parents not drinking/doing drugs; separate bed clothes for the baby. We are doing all of this - sometimes we both fall asleep with breastfeeding during the night though.
I co- sleep with my 2 and have been doin so since they were new borns.
A midwife told me that co-sleeping is fine unless u have been drinking or doing drugs etc. I was concerned that i might roll on my baby but the midwife assured me that there was no way a mother would roll on her baby unless she was inder the influence. She said that even when you are asleep your are conscious of the fact that your baby is there.
Im not sure about you 2 falling asleep will breast feeding that may be a choking hazard. Maybe someone else could touch on that subject.
I have been co-sleeping with my son since he was born. I was told the SIDS assoc doesn't recommend co-sleeping incase people don't follow the guidelines, example, been drinking or doing drugs etc. It is easier for them to say don't do it then to insure people do it properly.
As for falling asleep beastfeeding, do you see it has a hazard or do you feel he is totally safe? I always move ds back up the bed after he feeds because I personally feel unsafe falling asleep feeding and leaving him there, because one I got big boobs and two I worry about him getting totally covered with the banket. If you think he is Totally safe do it but if you think he is not totally Don't do it.
I have been a bit sleep deprived lately hence the late reply back. It is reassuring to even know there are people out there co-sleeping with there bubs and interesting re SIDS and why they technically don't recommend co-sleeping.
I decided to feed Heidi sitting up in bed - because of copious vomiting as well as the rolling into her thing - she is settling better now that I am doing that anyway . We then put her back into a separate bed for her using the change mat as my other daughter still comes in at night.
Feeling better about that and still have the benefits of co-sleeping.
The thing is that co-sleeping is safer, when done properly. Babies heart rates and breathing are regulated by mum, and mum is also very in tune and usually wakes up if the baby stops breathing. Not to mention the convenience of bfing without getting out of bed, which leads to mum getting more sleep, which reduces the risk of car accidents etc.
BUT, not everyone who co-sleeps will do it safely. I think this is why the SIDS foundation recommends not co-sleeping. Because on the law of averages, more babies are probably safe if they don't recommend it, because more people who did it might do it wrong than right otherwise (I hope that makes sense, I don't think I worded it very well). If you are ensuring that bub doesn't overheat or suffocate in a pillow etc, and that you are have not been drinking or taking medications that make you drowsy etc, then you should be fine. It is, after all, the way that babies have slept for hundreds of years, and still do in many parts of the world!
Personally, I think that the reason co-sleeping isn't recommended by SIDS Australia, Ngala or anywhere else "mainstream" is because it isn't 'the done thing', it's not as socially acceptable as sleeping seperately. I wonder if this is because in the bad old days, women were told right from the time their babies were born to teach them to be independant (with timed feeds, etc.). Maybe some of it is even the influence of the womens lib movement which unfortunately encouraged the same thing, encouraged women to seperate themselves from thier children and have their own lives.
Co-sleeping is safer for babies. I think manta-ray already said that mothers and babies react to each other during the night, waking each other occasionally which actually stops the baby falling into too deep a sleep and hence stop breathing. Eventually we'll all be advised to co-sleep with our babies, I think.
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Co-Sleeping and SIDS
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