for starters, here is one on the physical danger of bedsharing from the Canadian AP:
http://www.nd.edu/~jmckenn1/lab/articles/Canada safe Sleep.pdf
First off, this post is about CIO, not co-sleeping. Second, co-sleeping is not necessary to use a method other than CIO to get a baby to sleep.
This study recommend using a crib. Would they be referring to one of these?
http://www.justicenewsflash.com/201...potentially-hazardous-cribs_201006254806.html
Or this one, where drop-side cribs led to 32 deaths in 9 years, and hundred of injuries?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37025387
On the other end, yes, co-sleeping has indeed resulted in infant deaths.
In both cases, the deaths are a horrible, terrible tragedy. Unfortunately, accidents can happen in a so-called safe crib, and also with co-sleeping. Sadly, there is no guaranteed completely safe way unless you sit and stare at your child as they sleep.
I use precautions when co-sleeping to ensure my daughter is safe, and I would never recommend someone co-sleep if they were nervous about it or not able to take proper precautions.
On the other hand, co-sleeping has been shown to lower the risk of SIDS.
this news article cites and Isralei study on how parent expectations shape sleep habits:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...h-its-all-mums-fault-for-fussing-1782527.html
Most importantly, the study's authors, first of all, point out that: "But, in a note of caution, t
he authors highlight the current debate regarding the consequences of leaving children to cry, pointing to a series of articles by the co-sleeping advocate James J McKenna that argue that
expecting infants to self-soothe runs counter to their basic biological and emotional needs." (Bolding my own)
They also seemed to base their study more on parental expectations and feelings. For instance, they said, "Studies have suggested new parents can miss out on the equivalent of two months' sleep in the first year of their child's life, putting pressure on their relationships with their new baby and each other."
My DH and I feel no pressure from our DD as we made a decision together not to do CIO. We have time for each other at other times other than bedtime. I also do not think missing some sleep was unexpected as a new mom. Jeeze, I missed more sleep in college studying, going to school, having a job, and maintaining relationships than I do as a new mom.
Additionally, they say, "expectant mothers who felt it important to "limit parental night-time involvement [and use] less active soothing" techniques would go on to have infants who slept better." Well, that's no shock. Part of the Ferber method is that a baby learns that his cries will be ignored and no one will attend to him when he cries. I know that my baby wakes more often at night- I could have told you that. I will say that at 10 months, my daughter is developing self-soothing techniques and putting herself back to sleep. She needed time to develop them. Again, I point to their own caveat about the new study that shows allowing babies to cry can be detrimental.
here is a time magizine article that cites several studies that are reputable. It also takes into accout nursing and specifically mentions NOT nursing to sleep at one point:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1904288,00.html
these are just some of the things i have read that say that putting a baby to bed awake is beneficial.
This study says, "Children who don't sleep enough may be at increased risk of being overweight and having emotional and behavioral difficulties in adolescence and adulthood, for example." Why do they assume my daughter doesn't sleep enough, even if she does wake more often?
They again, as the first study you mentioned did, recommend a crib in another room. Studies have shown that SIDS risk is decreased when infants are in the same room as their parents. (
http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/sids.html#)
"Mindell is careful to emphasize that while her research, which was funded by Johnson & Johnson, does not support co-sleeping, it doesn't absolutely condemn it either."
"To counter that dependence, Mindell suggests that parents indulge in a regular goodnight routine, but slip away before the baby drifts off to sleep. "We want bedtime to be this wonderful time for families, we want the cuddling, we want the story reading, we want that to be a really special part of the day," Mindell says. "We just want the literal falling asleep to be independent."
Again, I don't see anywhere that says that CIO should be used or that it is healthy. She says "baby drifts off to sleep." If I had put my baby down, when we first came home from the hospital, she would not have "drifted off to sleep." She cried and screamed if I put her down.... so, I see not suggestion whatsoever of what to do if you do not have one of those amazing babies who "drifts off to sleep."
I agree babies need to learn how to sleep. I disagree strongly, and am supported, even in your article references, that letting a baby cry herself to sleep is healthy. My baby, from the night she was born, cried if I put her down.
I notice you never responded to my post where I described my child's health problems. I think most people agree that using CIO on a sick child is cruel, but I was told by doctors to use CIO on my daughter- they assumed she cried because she was fussy, and they assumed that was all. They were wrong. How many other babies are sick, but the peds are recommending moms to just let them CIO? My doctor told me acid reflux is incredibly common in infants, as is an allergy to milk.
Bottom line is, that is a chance I'm glad I wasn't willing to take, and I see nothing in the articles you gave me that tell me any differently or directly support CIO. They only support learning healthy sleep habits from an early age, but they talk about babies "drifting off to sleep," not crying until they vomit, as Ferber suggests.
I can't find his book excerpt online, but I did read it, and I know he says something like, "matter-of-factly clean your child up and then leave the room" in the rare case that they vomit on themselves. To me, that's sick. The problem is, my daughter vomited from acid reflux already; I can only imagine how much worse it would have been if I used CIO... it really leaves me shaking to think of what could have been if my DH and I were different parents.
It's nice that many of you have healthy babies who you could get to sleep with very little crying. But the issue is, most people can't get their baby to sleep with no crying. Those babies are rare. And many infants have health issues- my daughter's health issues would have gone undiagnosed if we followed everyone's advice and did CIO.
But then, I'm a first-time parent, so what so I know, right? I'm pretty sure that my healthy daughter thanks her lucky stars that she was born to this first time parent- she's now healthy and off the zantac.