According to the Chicago Tribune, before the “Back to Sleep” campaign began in 1994, only 14% of babies in the United States were placed on their backs to sleep. After the campaign started, the number skyrocketed to 73%. While the recommendation remains for babies to sleep on their backs, there are signs that more and more parents are choosing to place their babies to sleep on their sides or tummies. A 2005 article from the Detroit News reported that in a Babycenter.com poll of 24,000 respondents, a nearly equal number of parents (42%) put their babies down to sleep on …read more

Breastfeeding your baby is one key way to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also called crib death or cot death. In fact, a 2008 meta-analysis of 27 studies showed that babies who were breastfed, even partially breastfed, were one-third less likely to die of SIDS than babies who were never breastfed.
Back to Sleep
Over 13 years ago the American Academy of Pediatrics issued its first policy statement on reducing the risk of SIDS and recommended that all healthy babies be placed to sleep on their backs. Soon thereafter the “Back to Sleep Campaign” began. In the time …read more

Last Friday’s post featured an excerpt from the 18th century “Prayer to Be Said When She Nurses for the First Time.” It’s a beautiful prayer and it speaks eloquently to the hopes and fears of every new mother. There is an additional portion of the prayer that reads: