“According to the CPSC, at least 515 deaths were linked to infants and toddlers under 2 years of age sleeping in adult beds from January 1990 to December 1997.” More than 75% of these were for infants younger than three months. 121 deaths were from a parent, caregiver or sibling rolling against on or top of the baby. Risk factors are: drinking, smoking, and older children, who might not be aware of the baby when asleep. http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/cosleeping.html

Some might say, if it’s my kid, it’s 100%, so statistics don’t matter. But, we found with SIDS that not only do statistics matter, but other factors matter too and that means you can affect the odds. It’s not random.

I don’t buy the argument, however, that “my kid’s ok, so it’s not really dangerous.” I heard the same argument from a woman who smoked through both pregnancies, back in the 60s, when strangers were not giving you daggers for such a practice, but, she was defensive about it, even then.

So, look at the numbers. Decide what works for you. You’re not going to raise your children in a bubble, and raising them to be afraid of everything is worse than calculating reasonable risk, which we do every time we step off the curb. And, everyone else’s opinion is just that, opinion.

“According to the CPSC, at least 515 deaths were linked to infants and toddlers under 2 years of age sleeping in adult beds from January 1990 to December 1997.” More than 75% of these were for infants younger than three months. 121 deaths were from a parent, caregiver or sibling rolling against on or top of the baby. Risk factors are: drinking, smoking, and older children, who might not be aware of the baby when asleep. http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/cosleeping.html

Some might say, if it’s my kid, it’s 100%, so statistics don’t matter. But, we found with SIDS that not only do statistics matter, but other factors matter too and that means you can affect the odds. It’s not random.

I don’t buy the argument, however, that “my kid’s ok, so it’s not really dangerous.” I heard the same argument from a woman who smoked through both pregnancies, back in the 60s, when strangers were not giving you daggers for such a practice, but, she was defensive about it, even then.

So, look at the numbers. Decide what works for you. You’re not going to raise your children in a bubble, and raising them to be afraid of everything is worse than calculating reasonable risk, which we do every time we step off the curb. And, everyone else’s opinion is just that, opinion.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090727/NEWS01/907270323/1010/ARCHIVES

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090727/NEWS01/907270323/1010/ARCHIVES