Many people close to us know we decided from the beginning to place Levi to sleep on his tummy, despite the "Back to Sleep" (BTS) campaign. No we are not careless. Yes we love our son more than anything, which is why we feel this is the best decision for him. I think it's very sad so many parents are backed into a corner out of sheer terror to make their babies sleep on their backs. I know of so many parents (most won't admit it!) that wrestle with how to put their baby to bed because of what pediatricians say, even though their instincts may be telling them something else. But I have done my research... please read these articles below.
http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=97
http://fourfactortheory.blogspot.com/
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/tswj/2005/136489/abs/
*click "Full Text PDF" on the right
I really feel more research needs to be done on this matter. Yes, SIDS rates dropped after the BTS campaign, but there are a lot of factors that aren't shared. In how many of the cases was sleeping prone the ONLY factor? (bedding environment was very safe.. tight fitted sheet, no blankets, no second hand smoke, comfortable room temp, sleeping alone in crib, ect). This information is almost impossible to find, because there hasn't been a study correlating SIDS and prone sleep ONLY. Doctors cannot say that sleeping prone is a cause for SIDS.. after all, there are no known causes. It just happens, unfortunately. They only are going off of the decrease in SIDS after most parents started placing infants on their backs. But again, I think a lot more factors are involved. You should also note that some infant deaths were labeled as SIDS although they really weren't (suffocation was most likely the cause). The guidelines for cause of death to be SIDS is a lot more strict than it was when BTS started. Also, the determining factors of SIDS varies from coroner to coroner.. which really needs to be changed.. there should be a universal method in determining this.
And another thing that I always go back to.. I was placed on my tummy, so was Jake, and so were our parents, and their parents. The recommendation used to be for infants to be on their stomachs because of the adverse effects of supine (back) sleep (you will see there are many disadvantages).
I am the only Mom in my immediate circle of Mom friends that does this (that I know of), which is why I was hesitant to share. I don't want to be called a bad Mom.. but before 1992 when 70+% of Moms were putting their babies to bed on their tummies, were they bad Moms? No. And neither am I. If you look on a lot of community boards on websites such as The Bump, Baby Center, What to Expect When You're Expecting.. you will see a lot of Moms struggling with this. They want to do it, and notice their child sleeps so much better when they do, but they're scared to death of SIDS (which any good Mom is!!). Hopefully the research I've provided will help. And more Moms do this than you think.. just go to the community boards and you'll see hundreds of Moms "admit" they do this. We shouldn't be so ashamed of how we want our babies to sleep! And Pediatricians shouldn't be so rude and condescending when we choose to do so.. I'm sure even they were put to sleep on their belly!
An item we have that helps us be even more confident about tummy sleep is the Angel Care Motion Monitor. We have the one with 2 pads, for even more sensitivity. I'm not saying our child's life is dependent on this monitor, but it certainly helps to give us some peace of mind. I still get up and check on Levi a handful of times a night.. and I would do that even if he slept on his back (babies still die of SIDS on their backs, too).
I am thankful for the work the researchers do.. but I really think they need to dive deeper. We wouldn't have a population of 6 billion people if tummy sleep didn't work when done safely.
So, why did we decide to go against the "doctor's orders"?
Initial reasons we choose this route...
-we feel it's more natural for a baby to sleep this way. He also sleeps longer and more sound (sleep is so important to a developing baby!). Research shows babies lose 4 hours of sleep a day when sleeping on their back as opposed to their tummy. This is one reason for the adverse affect of delayed development, which I'll share about shortly.
-we feel better knowing if he spits up, it will come out onto his mattress instead of going back down his throat. There isn't really any concrete evidence that a child will choke on spit up if on their back (although pediatricians used to say this!), but in our minds, it makes more sense. (PS we have seen him choke on his spit up on his back while changing a diaper.. we had to grab him and flip him over and hit him on the back to breathe! That was reason enough for us)
-He lifted his head at 1 day old while on his tummy.. we knew he could move his head side to side.
-Generations upon generations before us did this (I understand guidelines change over time, but I am still not 100% on board with the BTS campaign)
Secondary reasons we choose to stick with this method after researching...
-Before BTS, "flat head syndrome" (plagiocephaly) was pretty rare. Ever since the BTS campaign, 1 in 60 babies develop it. It is generally just cosmetic, but can permanently change how their head is shaped if not corrected. Methods to correct it include changing babies head position frequently during sleep (really? Going into your child's room every hour to flip their head side to side? C'mon), wearing a helmet for a few months, and sometimes surgery is required.
Baby with Flat Head Syndrome
Levi's head (Sorry for poor quality pic.. it's hard to get a profile shot of a baby who moves!)
-Delay in motor development, social skills and cognitive ability. Research shows babies who sleep on their backs reach milestones later than those who sleep on their bellies. Usually by 18 months they are at the same level, but there can be long term affects in some instances (Some think some cases of autism has thought to maybe be related.. no long term studies have been done, so it hard to know what the long term affect can be)
-The list of adverse effects of supine sleep is quite lengthy (torticollis, shoulder issues, increase in sleep apnea, hip subluxation, jaw difficulties, ect, ect)If your baby is a happy back sleeper, then I am SO happy for you! That takes one worry off of your mind. Even if Levi slept soundly on his back, I would still consider tummy sleep for all of the reasons fore mentioned. This blog post is certainly not to tell you what to do.. it is just explaining why we do what we do! I'm sure a lot of people think we're crazy and that's fine. But at least you know our reasoning!
Incase you haven't noticed, we are not conventional parents.. we go against the grain on a lot of things. The way we chose to labor was what started it all! All parents will choose what they feel is best. I hope, though, that you question/research things before implementing them. Like your Mama always said "If your friends jumped off of a bridge, would you do it, too?"
For an additional read, read this blog post... she feels the same way I do!
PS please no negative comments. I honor your parenting decisions, please honor ours.
xox Jessica (Mommy of one happy sleeper!)
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