So I went to my daughter's childbirth class...

[MorelCabin]

and I must be the only one that thinks our health care system has gone over the deep end! They are telling people now not to have any blankets in the crib. Don't put your baby to bed with a blanket...just on a sheeted matress and an undershirt and PJ's. No swaddling anymore for newborns, no snuggly blanket, just a baby in PJ's...WOW! I can't imagine not having a blanket on my bed...I HAVE to be covered with at least a sheet, even in the summer.
They think it *may* avoid SIDS. Hogwash! Thier reasoning is that the baby gets the blanket over it's face and either suffocates (which would show up in an autopsy) or gets carbon monoxide becasue of breathing in it's own breath for ntoo long. Now that would show up on an autopsy as well...but nothing shows up in the case of SIDS. It is simply a failure to thrive with no apperent reason. But ALL our babies have to be uncomforatabnle now! I just find it insane!
Oh yes, and no crib bumpers, they need adequate air circulation, even if they have bruises on thier heads from hitting the bars of the cribs...AND, you should maybe have a fan in the room for air circulation.
Okay, so here in Northern Ontario they are teahing new moms that thier babies should sleep in a crib with no matress and a fan...am I the only one that thinks there is something wrong here? I want my grandchild to me wrapped tight in a recieving blanket for the first three weeks, it only makes sense to me! and with a warm blanket over that at night. I may be wrong, but I think it means something for the baby's emotional well being as well!

 

[Beekissed]

Amen, sister! On the whole, the world has gone crazy over this "safety" issue! Food safety, kid safety, animal safety....geesh! How in the world did we ever survive to this point without a big roll of bubble wrap around us while we ate sterilized foods in a pureed form?



Me? I like anecdotal evidence anyday. I almost had a baby die on me twice by laying him on his back....never did it again! Just so happened he was having reflux and it was causing his airway occlusion(this was before my nursing education).

Any nurse or medical professional knows you don't lay an individual, too weak to turn over, flat on their back, if they have any condition that may cause them to regurgitate food or fluids. But now they advise women to never lay babies on their stomachs! Babies spit up all the time! If a baby is so weak it cannot turn its nose out of a mattress, chances are there are underlying medical conditions that are contributing to a problem besides the mattress!

No blankets? Same answer! Any mother worth her salt is going to make sure the blankets are not over the babies face so tightly that they will smother. C'mon!!! Whatever happened to good old common sense?

 

[MorelCabin]

Oh ya the laying a baby on it's back gets me too! My sister visited with her baby when she was a few weeks and wouldn't dare lay her on her belly. The baby fuused and cried and I told her to lay her on her tummy...it helps remove gases and what not and they are just more comfortable that way! She was freaking, no way was she going to lay her on her tummy...so I did, the baby stopped fussing right away and slept better than she had since birth. But of course sis couldn't follow my advice, I don't know anything after raising three of them:>)
Yup, makes no sense at all! My daughter was hospitalized for pnemomia at 6 months old and they STRAPPED her to her back on the bed puking and all and then left her there to suffocate on her own vomit! I walked out with her and took her home. Told them she's most likely die there instead of get better.

It seems that now days it's more important to have an answer for the death, even if it forgoes preventing it! SHEESH

 

[keljonma]

Give me Dr Spock's common sense anyday!

I breastfed both of mine - so horrors of horrors, they usually fell asleep next to me in the same bed OR lying on their tummies on top of my shoulder while I was in the rocker!

Here in NE Ohio, bumper pads were used to help block any drafts in our old house. The babies wore footie pjs AND blankets in bed.

How did mine survive to become adults?

 

[patandchickens]

I know it is lots of fun to complain and wail and moan at the absolutely proposterous stupidity of the system.

However there are reasonable statistics to back up most of those things being associated with fewer deaths. SIDS deaths have dropped considerably since the 'back to sleep' thing came into vogue. Etc etc.

Nobody is saying to put babies down *naked* in the crib -- the idea is that you dress it as warmly as necessary and then don't add a further blanket.

Also nobody (that I have ever ever heard) is saying to run a fan when the room is already cold.

And most of the childbirth educators and healthcare folks I've run into (remember I've had two babies in the past 4.5 yrs) WILL SAY "you know, realistically, there are a few kids who are just miserable on their backs or who have problems that do poorly with it, so, you know, don't necessarily put *them* to sleep on their backs, just be real careful with it".

As I understand it the main objection to swaddling is that (particularly on some babies) it is real difficult to get it done right so that it stays put and does not either a) creep up over the baby's face or b) unwind and become a mass of blanket some of which can be flopped over the baby's face. I have seen one or two scary situations with my own swaddling in fact (both my kids were swaddled, for a considerable while) and do not think that I am the most inept person out there nor had *the* wiggliest babies. Again, I have heard people giving professinoal advice on the subject say 'you know, we really don't think it's the safest thing and so the advice is not to do it, but if that's what it takes to get your baby to sleep for more than fifteen minutes at a time, then do what seems right to you, just be careful'.

For heaven's sake. They are trying to help, and are doing it on the basis of reasonable data and theories. You disagree with it, fine, everybody should look at a situation and make their own decisions and some people will always disagree with other people, but that doesn't make it some ridiculous horrible giant atrocity.

Pat

 

[MorelCabin]

double post

 

[MorelCabin]

Well there was no "within reason" stated at this class, it was instructed to do things this way and that was it. I was very surprised, to say the least, and when I questioned, I was told that that is the way it is done now...well, not the way I would do it:>)
As a matter of fact, in my day these ideas would be seen as blatant abuse or neglect...

 

[patandchickens]

Well there was no "within reason" stated at this class, it was instructed to do things this way and that was it. I was very surprised, to say the least, and when I questioned, I was told that that is the way it is done now...well, not the way I would do it:>)

Yes, I know, that is the way it is presented when being taught (or whatever) in a group or written in pamphlets or whatever.

The situation is not necessarily the same when you are talking with a health care provider (etc) about a specific child's specific problems. (I am sure there are *some* people who are hard-nosed about it, of course, but I don't offhand remember encountering any with my own kids)

As a matter of fact, in my day these ideas would be seen as blatant abuse or neglect...

Yes, I know. THings change. However they do not generally change for no reason at all or just to be perverse. Just because it's what you grew up with does not necessarily make different ideas bad or completely stupid.

Practically EVERYthing has been considered mandatory in some times and places, and forbidden in others There probably IS some gradual drift (not without reverses, but you know, on average) towards a more and more accurate understanding of the issue and better recommendations.

Pat

 

[me&thegals]

I raised my 2 kids during the whole "back to sleep" thing. Like Pat, I really side with science. Like all of you, I think common sense works, too. My daughter really would not take naps on her back, really, truly would not. So, she took naps (with me checking until I felt comfortable about her ability to get her face out of the mattress) on her belly. To me it felt safer than having her mother go insane from her lack of napping. At night my kids slept on their backs. They never bruised their heads from bumping up against the edge of the crib. When they were strong enough to be that active, they were also able to not smash their heads accidentally.

Really, though, when you think of the way cribs used to be--piled high with stuffed animals, bumpers and blankets, it's not super surprising that kids had problems. I've also heard that overheating could be part of the problem, but it's been about 5 years since I studied up on SIDS.

I teach first aid and CPR. I always tell my classes when "common sense" questions come up that I have to teach according to the best-known standards of this time, but real life is real life and I trust them to make the most practical decisions in real life.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

All of my kids slept in my bed for the first year. Yes they had their own bed, but it was easier as a breastfeeding mom to have them right next to me. Plus half the time, I would fall back asleep while they nursed

I used bumper pads in the crib. I used blankets. LOTS of blankets.

My babies have slept on their backs, on their sides, on their tummies, on ME and I think they are healthier for it.

Personally, I'm all for that closeness of having my baby sleeping next to me. DH isn't too thrilled with it, but it's only a year, he can deal.