Where Should Newborns Sleep?

I recently attended the International Lactation Consultant Association Convention in Orlando. We heard several presentations dealing with infant sleep.

Moms Need Sleep!
Helen Ball, an anthropologist at Durham University in England spoke about the normalcy of infant/parent shared sleep. In a recent study she and her partners evaluated the amount of sleep mothers got based on where their infants slept. Some infants slept in their mothers' beds. Some slept in cots attached to their mother's beds, and some slept in traditional separate cribs. The mothers whose infants slept in the cots attached to the mothers' beds got the most sleep. The mothers of infants whose babies were in their beds got almost as much sleep, and those whose infants were in traditional cribs got the least sleep.

Depressed Moms Really Need Sleep!
Another fascinating speaker was Kathleen Kendall-Tackett a Clinical Psychologist who is a professor at Texas Tech University School of Medicine in Amarillo. She spoke about recent advice given to mothers suffering from post-partum depression that they get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep at night. Some experts say that they should be separated from their infants at night in order to ensure proper rest.

She highlighted research, however, that indicates such separation actually makes the situation worse for the mother suffering from PPD. When these mothers have ready access to their infants in a co-sleeping situation, they actually get more rest! A wonderful solution for such a mother might be an Arm's Reach Co-sleeper.

Sleep Where You Sleep Best...But Be Close
Ultimately mothers and babies need to sleep where they sleep best. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants sleep in a "separate bur proximate environment." Researchers from a variety of venues have demonstrated both the safety and the benefits of mothers and babies sleeping together whether it be in the same bed or in a co-sleeper attached to mom's bed. So each mother must decide for herself where she and her baby sleep best!

The spring rush has arrived!

I don't know about all of you, but my life has been hectic these past few weeks. Since the first of March, I have been out of town 6 times (a couple of those times were for five days), my husband has been on three business trips, my daughter has played through a season of soccer and has started on tee ball, my own softball season has started, my daughter's been going to school more than normal in preparation for the end of the year, the stormy weather has knocked a tree down into our garden and broken garden boxes and our greenhouse (and because it's been raining so much, we've had to try to fix it in spurts, so it's still not ready for us to garden!), we've celebrated five birthdays and an anniversary and Mother's day, and all the other stuff that comprises our normal lives.

And to top it all off, my allergies are bad enough that I've finally given in on taking allergy medicine, but the only medicine we have has made me feel exhausted constantly, and we haven't had the time to go to the store yet to get a different kind.

I'm tired.

But that is nothing new to any of you, I'm sure. I don't think mothers are not tired at any point in time for many years after their youngest are in diapers.

My kids are taking the rush tolerably well. My daughter, independent and out-spoken 4.5 year old that she is, has taken this all in stride and is just going about her merry way. The couple of trips I was gone for several days, she was a little whinier the day I got back, but otherwise she's been fine. I've been worried about my son who's 2.5 years old and still nursing, particularly with the travel and me being gone for so many days in a row. The first 5 day trip I took, he was fine when I came home, if a little clingier for a couple of days. The second 5 day trip I took, though, he didn't do as well at. His sleep patterns totally shifted, which was oh-so-much-fun. Luckily, by now we've gotten back to normal, and since we don't have any other long trips away planned until at least August, life will be normal for a while before I/we are gone again.

Of course, this isn't to say that life won't be hectic. Tomorrow we're all leaving for NC for a wedding my husband is in. We have another wedding next month. At some point we'll take a nice, relaxing (hah!) visit to the beach. We have another wedding in August, as well as a possible trans-Atlantic trip for me. I'm sure that we'll have pressure (not necessarily of the bad sort) to take the 14+ hour drive up to the in-laws since it'll have been a year in July since we've been up there. Whether or not we give in to the pressure is a different story.

But that's sort of the way we like it, I think. We do it every year - the hectic running around and never sitting down thing. It lasts from about March until December. I'm just glad that the kids go so easily with us. I think we're helped greatly with that because we co-slept with both of them, co-sleeping in hotel rooms is not something new to them, and extended nursing really helps my son. Despite the craziness of my travel schedule, he has come back to nursing every time I've gotten back from traveling. It might take him an hour, or even twelve, to ask to nurse again, but he has done so without fail. And while at one point, I couldn't wait to be done nursing, I find that it serves as a comfort and re-connection for both of us now when I come back after being gone for a few days. I definitely never thought that I would be a mother who nursed her child for several years, but it appears that I will be, given that my son turns 3 this summer.

Of course, it could be that he gets done this summer. All the travel may get him too busy, and we may just wake up one day and realize we haven't nursed in several days. He may potty train this summer, though I have no hopes for that. Who knows what other milestones he may reach this summer, or if he reaches any at all?

As always, I find myself looking forward to what the coming months will bring, and who we'll be when they're over.

Baseball Boy Snuggles

Okay, I admit it, I'm fast approaching 50, and my nest is slowly but surely emptying. But we still have one who hasn't entered the foreign territory of Teendom quite yet. At 10 years of age, Child 4 is delightfully preoccupied with baseball, his fourth grade friends, Webelos, and Club Penguin. He can't wait for football sign-ups even though he will probably play as an "older, lighter" player in a younger category. That's simply a nice way of saying that he's just not a very big little guy! But there's a ton of heart tucked away in his little 65 pound frame! He idolizes his big brother who has always given 110% to every sport he's every played and seems to be following in those footsteps!

Nevertheless, when the weather gets bad, or he has a bad dream, or he just feels like a Mommy/Daddy fix, our 10 year old bundle of energy ends up snuggled right up next to us in our king-size bed. (Yes, we took Dr. Sears' advice that the best piece of baby furniture you can buy is a king-size bed! That was one of the smartest things we ever did!)

I've heard lots of moms wonder when they're going to get their kids out of their bed. I have to admit that there have been moments during the last 20 years when I longed to have my bed back to myself (with just my DH to snuggle)! And now we pretty much do have our wish. So that's what makes it so sweet when Child 4 comes in at 5:30 in the morning to get his snuggle fix.

If the truth be told, I think my DH will miss our baseball boy snuggles as much or more than I will when Child 4 decides he is too old for Mommy and Daddy snuggles. In fact, I've noticed that some nights when I work late and DH has gone to bed already, I go upstairs to find Child 4 snuggled right up to his Dad - and I suspect that was Dad's idea ("Why don't you just snuggle here with me a while, Buddy?") What a wonderful blessing to know he is growing up feeling secure and loved day and night. I'm so thankful that Dr. Sears taught us about the family bed. It has been a tremendous source of comfort, blessing and security for all four of our kids.

I guess once Child 4 decides he's too old...(I know that day isn't too far away) we'll have to hold out for Grandchild 1! Since we don't expect grandchildren in the foreseeable future, we'll have to hope and pray that Child 4 needs his baseball boy snuggles just a little longer!

Study Shows Breastfeeding Reduces SIDS Risk

In the March 3, 2009, edition of Pediatrics, a groundbreaking study from Germany demonstrates a dramatic reduction of SIDS for breastfed babies. According to the authors of the study, "the aim of the German Study of Sudden Infant Death (GeSID) was to identify risk factors for SIDS in a population where only few infants sleep prone."

In this study, which was conducted between 1998 and 2001, the researchers examined the cases of 333 infants who died of SIDS and 998 control infants who were matched for age and region. In the data analysis, the following variables were controlled: maternal smoking in pregnancy, maternal family status, maternal age at delivery, socioeconomic status of the family, previous live births, birth weight of the infant, bed sharing in the last night, pillow in the infant's bed, additional heating during the last sleep (a hot water bottle in the infant's bed or the bed in front of a heater), position placed to sleep, and pacifier use during the last sleep.
The key variable factor was breastfeeding. The researchers examined exclusive breastfeeding as well as partial breastfeeding and exclusive formula feeding. They found that fewer than 50% of the SIDS cases were breastfed at the age of 2 weeks, and 83% of the controls were breastfed. Fewer than 40% of the SIDS cases were exclusively breastfed at the age of 1 month compared with 72% of the controls. The researchers found that full or even partial breastfeeding provided a 50% reduction in the incidence of SIDS.

Why does breastfeeding protect infants from SIDS? The researchers offered two possible explanations.

• The first is that breastmilk contains immunoglobulin G. The predominance of SIDS deaths occur between 2 and 5 months, the period in which the immunoglobulin G from the mother has worn off, but the infant isn't yet producing a sufficient quantity to be effective. Therefore, the breastfed infant has the advantage of still receiving this very important factor during a time when he is most vulnerable.
  
• The second theory has to do with the sleep patterns of the breastfed infant versus the formula fed infant. Breastfed infants are more easily aroused.
  

The authors of this study recommend that the key protective role of breastfeeding be included in materials designed to educate parents about SIDS prevention. In both the United States and the United Kingdom, official SIDS prevention materials have not included the recommendation to breastfeed. Hopefully, the publication of this study in the prestigious journal, Pediatrics, will change that!