Comments on: Back to Sleep Campaign: A Poll

By: Katie Bass

Katie Bass — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 13:26:31 +0000

I placed my oldest child on his tummy after the umbilical stump healed. Once he was a few months old, he would roll to his side. At nearly 6 years old, he still sleeps on his side or tummy. I did the same with my youngest. He is now a tummy sleeper at nearly 4. I am pregnant with our third child and I’ll probably do the same. I breastfeed my children until at least one year old, no one in my family smokes and I do not use blankets or anything soft in the bed. My oldest choked choked on spit-up when he was an infant. I heard gurgling noises and went to check on him and he was literally choking. I am a firm believer in breastfeeding and no soft things in the bed…oh, and tummy sleeping! I feel if a parent is nervous about tummy sleeping, purchase the angel monitoring system. Then, let you and your baby decide how to sleep. My husband and I were born during the “tummy sleeping era” and we’re fine!

By: Alina

Alina — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 15:13:05 +0000

everytime I babysit i will lay the child down on his or hers back.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 04:57:20 +0000

Well, I did a lot of things “wrong” when it came to sleep with my last child. I put her to sleep on her stomach and then draped a blanket over her crib. She needed almost absolute darkness in order to sleep. The blanket obviously didn’t make it air tight, but it did prevent air from circulating over her. We probably only did that for a month or two before she adjusted to light. I was a little apprehensive about the blanket, but it’s what worked!

By: Elita

Elita — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:06:28 +0000

I have read that pacis decrease the risk of SIDS, but if you’re breastfeeding on demand, doesn’t that provide the same risk reduction (if not better risk reduction) than a pacifier? My son never had a pacifier. He had the real thing whenever he wanted it.

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:22:59 +0000

For some reason I thought the paci increased the risk… wasn’t thinking straight apparently. LOL!

By: Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:18:32 +0000

Thanks Maria!

I don’t mean to comment one way or the other on what parents are doing and whether something is risky or not. In fact I want to recognize what I think is “secretly” happening, that a lot of parents are looking at their sleeping arrangements and doing what they can to maximize safety and sleep, period.

Pacifier use is generally thought to lower SIDS risk.

I don’t understand how all the statistics break down. The 50% figure does not take into account whether or not a fan was used. I’m sure some people used a fan and some didn’t. My impression for the fan study, though, is that use of a fan for tummy sleepers helped more because tummy sleepers were at greater risk of SIDS, whereas use of a fan for back sleepers helped a little less because they were already at lower risk. I’m not sure I have enough brain power to dig further than that into it right now

By: Maria

Maria — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:46:05 +0000

OK. I went back and voted. Honestly, I’m not sure I did it in spite of the risk of sids though, considering we were also breastfeeding and part-time co-sleeping, never used a pacifier, kept the room cool, didn’t use blankets (or even a swaddle– he HATED them), and my son could hold his head (flip his head side to side) at a very young age.

Anyway…

On the way to work I was thinking though– if a fan with a stomach sleeper experienced the largest reduction (presumably greater than 72%, because back sleepers would have pulled the %age down?) and back to sleep has reduced 50%, how much exactly was associated with stomach sleeping? Correct me if I am wrong, but the AOR is 0.14 for prone or side sleep, which is an 86% reduction– far more than the 50% by back sleeping (presumably without fan?). I guess I don’t know enough about the back to sleep statistic or other factors involved in either study to make a relevant direct comparison, but it does raise my eyebrows.

By: Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor

Angela White, J.D., breastfeeding counselor — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:35:51 +0000

Maria, go ahead and vote “tummy” if you like. Perhaps I should have phrased the poll “Did you always put your baby to sleep on his back? Yes or no.” Would’ve been more clear and that’s really what I am wondering — how many people are following the “back to sleep” recommendation 100 percent of the time and how many people are like the commenters here who’ve said they mix it up and do what helps the baby sleep best, in spite of the risk of SIDS.

Thanks for the comments so far everyone!!

By: Anon

Anon — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 21:23:03 +0000

I voted tummy because my little girl hated being on her back sleeping. She would do that startle response and then wake up screaming. We were co-sleeping so I decided it would be best if she slept in whatever way was comfortable and got her to sleep. I figured we were breastfeeding, and both light sleepers so we’d be able to hear her if she was in distress. I held her for her naps, so that wasn’t an issue. I know it was risky at some level.

By: Jenny

Jenny — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:11:47 +0000

I voted “back,” but we coslept on and off. Sometimes she did sleep on her tummy, too, because she was less likely to wake up when we put her down in that position. We normally watched to be sure she wasn’t right on her face.

I live in South Carolina and have been so ticked off about those stupid ABC’s of safe sleep brochures they give out. They mention NOTHING about BREASTFEEDING, which may be the very best way to prevent SIDS! I suppose it’s because they’d hate to make some poor mom who just wanted her boobs to stay perky feel guilty for deciding not to breastfeed. Bah. I guess I’m a little cynical.