Last September, I wrote about bedsharing and its association with SIDS. Last Fall, The Toronto Star addressed this issue, catalyzed by the introduction of a controversial public health intervention, launched in Milwaukee, attempting to curb the city’s bedsharing rates. In April of this year, Fox News produced this piece which, In my opinion, is a fairly balanced and informative take on this controversy. I would be interested to hear your comments and thoughts.
Fox News Report on Bedsharing and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS)
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About the Author: Dan Flanders
Dr. Flanders is the owner and executive director of Kindercare Pediatrics and also co-owner and co-director of kidEcare. He has special interest in primary care, nutrition, obesity, and feeding/eating disorders.
Dr. Flanders completed his undergraduate and medical education at McGill University and pediatrics training at the University of Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Flanders is on staff at the North York General Hospital and is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Toronto’s Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine.
I appreciated the tone of this report. It was pretty balanced and fair. I was scolded pretty severely when I told my family doctor we were co-sleeping. This was the same doctor that told me to buy formula because it made feeding in public easier. Her credibility aside, I was both ashamed and worried.
It wasn’t until a clinic appointment with Dr. Newman that I stopped hiding it. Their breastfeeding clinic made me feel empowered and confident. I finally felt like I was making a GOOD choice for my family. We only did it for the first 4-5 months, but it was beautiful. I actually really miss it. We only have a double bed and my son demands most of the real estate. Some horrible teething nights I try and convince him to sleep with us and nurse all night, but he can’t get comfortable unless he does a few flips and summersaults.
I would not have survived breastfeeding without co-sleeping. I look at it as a choice that facilitated our commitment to breastfeeding. So when you look at it that way, it was a healthy choice for us. My son also had severe mouth and esophagus ulcers from Thrush so had choking fits often. I wouldn’t have felt safe without him right beside me.