City's 5th Co-Sleeping Death in 10 Weeks Reported

Madeline Holler — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:29:00 GMT

Milwaukee authorities are blaming the death of yet another baby on co-sleeping. In 10 weeks, five babies have died during the night while sleeping out of a crib.

Meekel McCleave was just two months old when her mother, who had also co-slept with her other children, woke up and found the small newborn face down. Public health officials are once again decrying the practice of co-sleeping, precisely because of outcomes like this.

The death of these five babies is a complete tragedy -- sad, heartbreaking and avoidable. But what gets me, an experienced co-sleeper, is that co-sleeping is taking the blame and getting the headlines in these deaths. But a closer look sheds a little more light.

In Meekel's case, a medical examiner's report indicates the baby was found face-down on an adult-size pillow. That's hardly safe co-sleeping. And face down? The baby was two months old. What two month old can roll over? Just based on the information in the article, there was a lot going wrong in that family bed, though Meekel's mom disputes the pillow situation.

What about the other four cases? Here, read for yourself:

On March 8, 6-day old Ceianna Buchanan died while sleeping on a couch with her mother. The mother admitted to police she got drunk the night before.

On April 5, 3-month old Kymarius Hunt died sleeping on a couch with his grandmother. She later admitted to drinking 8 beers.

On April 19, 2-month old Tyler Winston died sharing a bed with his mother.

On April 25, 6-week old Demetrius Kimble died sleeping in bed with both parents. His mother admitted to drinking prior to falling asleep.

So, drunk, drunk, unknown and drunk.

Was co-sleeping the problem in any or all of these cases? Or was it booze and/or unsafe situations.

For many families, co-sleeping is the one way everybody gets sleep. And done safely, it's safe! But what is safe co-sleeping? For one, no drugs or drinking. For another, no babies on or near pillows. And also, don't sleep with babies on a couch or in chairs. How about an information campaign about that, instead of just saying, "no, don't do it"?

I mean, my motive isn't just to defend the practice of co-sleeping. I don't want to learn of any more kids dying as a result of some stupid form of it.

Should Healthcare Reform Start in the Maternity Ward?

Issues! 'Parenting' Offers Fake Apology

If This Guy's Going Broke, is There Hope for the Rest of Us?

Babble Talk Radio: Kids These Days!

Federal Agent* Seizes Oat-Based Contraband

Photo: Todaystmj4.com

They Say: Co-Sleeping Kills Kids

Madeline Holler — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:03:00 GMT

Officials in Los Angeles County are warning parents that co-sleeping is a "potentially lethal act."

So are car-riding, grape-eating and breathing the county's lead-rich air, but no mention of those in the same report, which was issued by the Los Angeles County Inter-Agency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect.

The report claimed that 44 children died from co-sleeping in the county in 2006, a 76 percent increase over the previous year. The defined co-sleeping as the practice of the sleeping in the same bed, couch or chair with an infant.

Unfortunately, those statistics don't tell us exactly how many of those deaths were in a couch or chair -- something even ardent supporters of co-sleeping agree is super risky. They also don't tell us how many of those involved a co-sleeping adult who had gone to bed drunk or on drugs.

I don't think co-sleeping is for everyone, but it was definitely for me and my babies. We were smart about it -- daddy slept elsewhere after a night of heavy drinking, for example. But we also didn't use any of the contraptions out there -- sidecar, crib-on-a-bed, stuff like that. Just cut back on bedding and pillows, that's all.

What's got me extra bugged about this report, is the agency it comes out of. The Council on Child Abuse and Neglect? Who knew I we'd fall in the demographic for THAT?

So what do you think about co-sleeping? Did you do it? Was it scary? Could you have survived without it?

Photo: babyart.org

Strollerderby : bullshit recommendations