Rise in Infant Suffocation Linked to Cosleeping?
The CDC published a study this month reporting that the rate
of infant deaths due to strangulation or suffocation quadrupled between 1984
and 2004. Is cosleeping to blame?
Well, according to this report by Reuters it is. The article
states, “Rates of sudden infant death from suffocation or strangulation
have quadrupled in the past 20 years in the United States, most apparently from
parents sleeping with their babies, government researchers reported on Monday.”
But the CDC report, published in the journal Pediatrics,
says no such thing, instead concluding, “The reason for this increase is
unknown.”
Part of the problem with this study is that it lumps
together infant suffocation that occurs in cribs, couches, and in the parental
bed. When a baby dies from suffocating under a blanket in his crib, or by
getting stuck behind a cushion on a couch, cosleeping is not to blame. And when a parent accidentally falls asleep on the couch with her baby, that cannot be called cosleeping.
I’m not an ardent cosleeper; I did so for a short period
with each of my children more out of laziness than anything else. And I know
cosleeping isn’t for everyone. But when we discuss cosleeping, let’s at least
keep to the facts.
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My obese cousin and his obese wife coslept with all their babies. I worried, but they survived it just fine. One did break an arm from a cosleeping naptime fall off the couch, but that is not smothering.
Only obese people or those on drugs smother thier kids when they are too “tired” to move them to their crib.
You are correct that the CDC paper does not show that co-sleeping increases the risk of infant suffocation. It merely details the change in classification of infant deaths. The risk of infant suffocation has not changed at all.
For a complete analysis of the CDC paper:
CDC study does NOT show bed sharing is dangerous for infants (http://open.salon.com/content.php?cid=93512)