AAP issues new SIDS guidance

[geners]

Has everyone seen this? I know we're moving out of infant territory and into having toddlers (!!), but I believe much of this is relevant at least through the first year.

WaPo summary

AAP press release

[geners]

I thought the guidance on nursing in bed (vs. a couch or the rocking chair) was interesting. I fall asleep while nursing a lot (like last night - I fell asleep with C in the glider for a full hour after nursing) and MH falls asleep while rocking him after a bottle MOTN all the time. I feel like it would be disruptive to everyone if we brought him into our room for those MOTN feedings - especially if we need to remove all blankets & pillows from the bed first in case we do fall asleep with him there... is this what others are doing? I obviously want to do what's safest but I can't picture how this would work.

[obscurereference]

I always thought they said the bed was safer because then you don't have the risk of dropping the baby so I'm no help! At this age I don't think dropping him would even be a big deal. Probably more traumatic for the parents. I think you're fine doing what you're doing. You'd be hard pressed to find a parent that hasn't snoozed in a rocker with their baby!

[byjove]

I've always nursed in bed during the night. We were a lot more careful about pillows and bedding when Margs (and C) were smaller (we would use a co sleeper to protect her between us), but DH and I both use a pillow and Margs doesn't like having a blanket on anyway. I think a lot of it is just being aware and making sure she stays up near our heads.

[kida]

Oct 25, 2016 8:28:19 GMT -5 byjove said:

I've always nursed in bed during the night. We were a lot more careful about pillows and bedding when Margs (and C) were smaller (we would use a co sleeper to protect her between us), but DH and I both use a pillow and Margs doesn't like having a blanket on anyway. I think a lot of it is just being aware and making sure she stays up near our heads.

This. I'm sure Im not following the rules exactly but her last wake up we bring her to bed with us. We have pillows but I make sure they are flat and even then I lay her up high enough that her shoulders and upper back are on them. Her chest is level with my face. I do that to make sure I don't pull the sheet up on her and also because I don't want her to bend her neck because I've read chin to chest is a suffocation hazard too. We only sleep with a sheet or thin quilt. Plus I'm pretty aware when she's in bed and only lightly doze. We didn't do it when she was less than 8 months though.

[RoLoMa]

I have never slept in bed with M but since about the day we brought him home from the NICU we have co-slept on the couch. From 2-8 weeks he slept in the RNP for part of the night but would get really fussy and not go back to sleep around his 3am feeding so I would sleep with him on my chest on the couch until morning. I always slept slightly inclined and laced my fingers in hopes that it would wake me up if he moved enough to unlatch them. I never intended to co-sleep but I learned quickly that we needed to do what we could to sleep.

Now, at just about a year later we still nap like this in the morning for a couple hours (or 3 like last Sunday!) on the weekends. I love that snuggle time.

I did fall asleep on multiple occasions while nursing him in the MOTN on the couch. It was really scary when I realized I had been asleep with him just laying on my lap but everyone survived.

[physiomeg]

I totally understand why guidelines like this exist, and I appreciate the call for parents to keep their children as safe as possible, but I can't help but feel that these ever changing (and seemingly more restrictive) guidelines may contribute to anxiety/depression in new moms. I have a lot of feelings on this that are difficult for me to articulate in a concise way...so I might just leave it at that.

I would not have done well keeping A in the room with us until 1 year. I never felt comfortable nursing in the bed because I would be so apt to fall asleep, and I sleep with lots of blankets/pillows. I always got up and went into the nursery glider to feed her, even when we were roomsharing. I can't recall a time I fell asleep in the glider, but I'm sure I was pretty close on some nights.

[evenkeeled]

When Emma was very young we would have her in a cosleeper between us or have me on a pillow, her at chest level, and a separate blanket that was wrapped around my legs/waist but she was outside of it.

www.hobomama.com/2010/06/how-to-cosleep-safely-tutorial-in.html

To be honest now, when we have her in our bed, it is usually just one of us and the blankets/sheets are around our waist, she is above them between the pillows and the blankets. I have also started putting the pillows UNDER the bottom sheet so you still have the pillow but no way for her to get smothered by it. It also allows her to be able to use the pillow. We use pillows and/or water noodle for the bed rail as well and put them under the bottom sheet.

[obscurereference]

Oct 25, 2016 22:46:17 GMT -5 physiomeg said:

I totally understand why guidelines like this exist, and I appreciate the call for parents to keep their children as safe as possible, but I can't help but feel that these ever changing (and seemingly more restrictive) guidelines may contribute to anxiety/depression in new moms. I have a lot of feelings on this that are difficult for me to articulate in a concise way...so I might just leave it at that.

I would not have done well keeping A in the room with us until 1 year. I never felt comfortable nursing in the bed because I would be so apt to fall asleep, and I sleep with lots of blankets/pillows. I always got up and went into the nursery glider to feed her, even when we were roomsharing. I can't recall a time I fell asleep in the glider, but I'm sure I was pretty close on some nights.

I totally agree with this. Sharing a room until 1 is completely unnecessary and is a recipie for even more sleep deprived parents. For some people it works and that's great, but when you make sweeping guidelines like this it makes the people who roomsharing doesn't work for (like me) feel like we're being neglectful parents when we do things differently.