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(yes, I am really, really really, honest to god pregnant! 8 weeks and 5 days to be exact…oh, I should get a little calendar for my blog, anyone know a good crunchy granola website that will give you a baby calendar widget for your blog?) to bring you this! Co-sleeping under attack in Canada! (thanks Corrine!)
…in Canada we have this (see articles below) ridiculousness to deal with. In many US states laws are being passed against co-sleeping which means that sleeping with ones baby, regardless of the conditions, will be punishable by law
http://www.thestar.com/article/221596
http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2001/10/22/cosleeping_011022.html
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2007/06/04/report-coroner-infant.html
http://www.news-medical.net/?id=26097
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070606.wxlcribmain06/BNStory/lifeMain
Man, this stuff makes my blood boil, is it just me, or do these people obfuscate a great deal? A whole bunch of comics on their way!
Love,
Heather
ps. thank you for the warm welcome for Mama (and mama’s new baby), you made my heart sing ;o)
I am using this one it has three different types of tickers.
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/pregnancy.php
The last article talks about these are unsafe surfaces. Was this article written by crib makers or what that is the only one not on the unsafe list. How is the floor unsafe or a bassinett don’t babies sleep in bassinetts all the time I thought they were made for infants?
Surfaces not designed or approved for infants’ sleep
Adult beds
Infant swings
Playpens
Bassinettes
Cradles
Waterbeds
Couches
The floor
Mattresses (on floor)
Car seats
here’s a link to an article about an incident in australia: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24250020-26103,00.html
a woman was harassed by security at her workplace for pumping in the “family room” for breastfeeding. ridiculous.
Oh my goodness! When I read that comic, I thought surely you meant pregnant with ideas or some other symbolic use of the word pregnant- I did not know you meant baby pregnant! Woo hoo! Congratulations! I’m a mama of 5 and let me tell you it is wonderful having so many little ones around.
Watch out, you’ve passed the magic number of children allowed one family, though, so you are going to get “those” questions. Prepare yourself with these ready made answers from some other mamas of large families
http://www.plomp.com/largefam/comebacks.htm
Ooh Ooh! My favorite part is, “To illustrate his point he gives the dramatic example of a five-week-old baby which suffocated in a crib filled with adult-sized pillows, comforters and stuffed toys, and he says such situations are not rare.”
Don’t sleep with your babies because they die in cribs!
It’s like when you here those, “Don’t have a homebirth because my birth at the hospital…” stories.
If a significant portion of babies die in cars, should laws be passed that infants are not allowed to ride in cars?
http://www.lilypie.com has free baby-centric counters. And specifically for waiting-for-baby, here’s the direct link.
http://lilypie.com/create_baby_days.php
Congratulations! I’m so very happy for you! And thanks for being here and all the information you put out.
Peace.
I really love the last link at the bottom where it has a list of places that are not “designed or approved” for babies to sleep and they have the floor listed. Seriously? Even the FLOOR is dangerous now?
They are really working hard to try and sell those cribs, aren’t they?
“at least you’re bonding with a baby who’s alive.”
Give me a break.
This may also be a way to manipulate statistics on injuries caused by vaccines…???
More congratulations!
And *shaking head at those plain wierd arguments against co-sleeping*…
*snort* I guess my four year old is doomed to die…
All the myths & misinformation make me so annoyed. I can’t believe the treatment I got the first time I admitted to the (traditional) ped. where our daughter actually slept. It was shortly afterward that I discovered this site and started calling her a free range baby.
By the time we had our son, our daughter would ask questions like “Whose baby really sleeps in a crib, or are they just for laundry?” They ought to do more about people who leave cribs next to open windows, with blind cords / electrical cords hanging into them, etc. etc.
BTW, congratulations on your new little bundle on the way!
Someone once pointed out that in many cases, people who died were found to have consumed water shortly before death. So water must be toxic.
This made me laugh:
“On that point, Dr. Cairns agrees with co-sleeping advocates. “You’re entitled to your opinion and these are our hard facts. I’m not debating. I’ll give you the figures. You make the decision.”
Funny, all he has is his opinion too. And he’s ignoring all the facts that say that properly done co-sleeping is safer.
Who gave that moron a microphone?
Me again…Anyone else see how odd it is that these items
Playpens
Bassinettes
Cradles
are on the list of places not approved or safe for infant sleeping? Aren’t 2 of those 3 designed for infant sleeping?
Sad thing is that the average mom may not read all the article or really study it herself, and will put her baby far away from her to be safe
I’m also expecting a call any minute now from my mom about this…my money’s on her calling to say “See, I told you it wasn’t safe!” ignoring that both my co-sleepin babies are just fine thankyouverymuch.
I am wondering how they are going to enforce these laws? Cameras in everyone’s bed rooms?!
I wrote my state health board back in late June after seeing a horrifying commercial that tried to scare parents off co-sleeping. I blogged my letter, their response (which actually was not a form letter, I think), and my response to their response:
http://mamasaga.blogspot.com/2008/06/co-sleeping-sids-sleep-safest-alone.html
I am so angry about this!
YAY! Are you going unassisted with this one, too?
As far as the US is concerned… it’s none of the government’s business where we put our children to bed. GEEZ.
Congratulations! That is wonderful news.
It’s all I can do to keep from rolling my eyes at these fearmongers who skew information so poorly but still expect us to believe it.
Also, not only are we both pregnant, we’re almost exactly the same amount of pregnant (I’m 9w3d today)! I’m having an unassisted pregnancy and another unassisted birth this time. It’s kind of cool to get to be pregnant “with” Hathor/Mama.
Have any of these people ever actually HAD a baby? As if we can control where they fall asleep! My five-month-old fell asleep during dinner tonight, lounging in her high chair. CAR SEATS aren’t approved for sleeping? I’ve never taken her, or her older sister, for that matter, on any long drive that they didn’t fall asleep. What are we supposed to do, constantly poke them while driving to keep them awake? (Yeah, that’s safe!)
Very interesting articles. And very maddening.
Heather in Tucson
I found this one on a blog today, and I thought of you, Hathor (Heather? Mama?)
http://babystrology.com/tickers/
I was reading an article in “Motherhood” magazine about co-sleeping. It was saying that someone did some actual sleep studies with mothers who breastfeed and mothers who formula feed.
In the mothers who breastfed and slept with their babies, the moms and the babies were totally in synch with each other. They awoke at the SAME TIMES consistently. So, the breastfeeding mother is going to know when her baby is moving about, and is going to be more aware of her baby’s location in the bed.
The mothers who were formula feeding and sleeping with their babies DID NOT have that same advantage. They slept right through all of their baby’s wake periods, and weren’t as in tune with the babies.
SO—my question is—-how many of these cases where babies died while sleeping with their parents included BREASTFED babies? How many of these deceased infants were BOTTLE fed?
I’ve noticed in all these “reports” they haven’t bothered to mention any of THOSE statistics!
My pedi has said my baby shouldn’t sleep with me either, and that she should be in a crib in our room (no space for that), and if I want to feed her, pick her up, put her next to me in my bed, feed her, then put her back in the crib, and then return to my own bed. Because even though it’s less convenient, it’s actually safer. He’s never seen me when I don’t get enough sleep. It’s NOT safer for anyone who lives with me. BWAH!
Congrats!
It’s a bloomin’ miracle my kids all survived,I tell ya! At least if I were to believe the crap “they” all say…
I was thinking… they say a baby should have no blankets, afghans, etc… what if you DON’T live in Hawaii? It gets cold here in PA at night in the winter! Is my baby supposed to sleep in her winter coat?
And the floor is listed as “unsafe”, but they want them on a “firm” surface. I can’t think of anything FIRMER than the floor, at least in my house.
Let’s face it- these people are full of it. Case closed.
Oh yes, that unsafe floor that millions (if not billions) of babies in other countries have slept on or currently sleep on, usually in a family bed with their parents and siblings.
First – congratulations Hathor!!! Woot!
Second – omg, you should put major warnings on hideous articles like that. Let me tell you, I am disgusted that they are back to those same tactics, because for a while it was getting better. When my daughter was born, these were exactly the kinds of things that filled all the parents’ magazines, and I denied myself and my daughter the wonderful pleasure of co-sleeping. By the time my son was born I was smarter, and people were catching on to attachment parenting. Thank goodness, as my son was much fussier and needier than she was, and he had horrible long-term reactions to the vaccines I believed I HAD to give him.
Mamas of today – please don’t be taken in by the false rhetoric and empty lies they’re telling you. Don’t deny your babies that much-needed security and bonding that co-sleeping provides.
Also – CRADLES? BASSINETS? Are they insane? They were MADE for babies to sleep in – in particular very small babies. Though my son slept a lot in the swing too, as sometimes nothing else would do – what was dangerous about the swing? Nothing. Meh, who comes out with these things??? It’s so discouraging and makes me want to scream and throw things.
So they make up a name for deaths specifically caused by unsafe sleeping invironments. SUD – and then throw out statistics that say “most SUD’s deaths are caused by (drumroll) unsafe sleeping invironments” ya, statistics, hard facts. Nice….
congratulations on the pregnancy and the new comic!