am i being ignorant!!?

Because American mothers need myths like “co-sleeping mothers smother their infants” and similar to help normalize mothering that results in a lot of crying.

edit: let me amend that to “American-style”

nothing wrong with cosleeping. it wasn’t the method of sleep we went for.

however the smothering incidences weren’t all caused by drug users parents.

Well, a lot of babies have died from sleeping with their parents….You don’t have to be on drugs or drunk to not realize what you’re doing in your sleep. It would be easy to roll over on your baby in your sleep, or even cover up their face with the blanket or pillow and not know it….some people are heavy sleepers. But to answer your question…no, you’re not being ignorant. A lot of people sleep with their baby in the bed and nothing like that happens….

i have a hard enough time trying to steal some space/covers with just his daddy in the bed.lol. two of them would be impossible! id be better off sleeping on the floor! lol.

I don’t think you’re being ignorant for discounting co-sleeping as the cause of SIDS. I do think it is unwise to believe that all smothering deaths of children are due to the adult being on drugs or drunk, however. That isn’t true. Many, many people are unaware of their movements while sleeping and could easily smother a baby without meaning to do it!! : (

Alot of mammals co-sleep with their young so why not humans…..it is perfectly natural.

I don’t co-sleep with my baby at bedtime but if he wakes early in the morning I put him bed with us…….advice from a fellow yahoo-er who suggested it as my little one kept waking.

I think it is lovely…..especially on a lazy Sunday morning!!!

Just to add isn’t one of the things about SIDS is not to put the baby into his/her own room until 6 months as they can go into such a deep sleep their breathing may stop…..well this isn’t going to happen if they are next to you.

Obber Im an American mother and I co sleep. I dont believe I “need” myths.

Ignore stupid ppl on here..it is ashame that people have to be so rude.

Me personally I don’t co-sleep, but only b/c I know that it will be a very hard habit to break. But I have put my little girl who is now 1 month old, in the bed w/me when she didn’t feel good( painful gas) or if she just couldn’t stay asleep. She loves it when she gets to sleep w/me, she sleeps better, longer, and ofcourse babies love being close to their mommy. You are not ignorant, plenty of mommies and daddies cosleep and have perfectly normal and healthy children. You do what your motherly instincts tell you that is right. Only you know your baby and what they like.

**also, when I sleep w/my baby, it seems like that is the only time when I DON’T roll or even move, somehow my body stays in the same place.

You know that you are a good mommy, you don’t need these ppl trying to convince you otherwise

I agree with you. I had a brother who died from SIDS in the 70’s. He was in his crib in the nursery, so not even in my moms room. She fed and changed him at 4am and at 6am went in and he has passed away. Looking back, they knew even less about SIDS and mothers often put their infants on their belly to sleep. My brother was 3 months old. Because of this I decided to sleep with all three of my sons until they could hold their heads up while on their bellies and could roll from back to front and vice versa. This made me more comfortable that if they needed to clear their face of an obstruction, be it a pillow… mattress… blanket.. whatever, then they could. I currently have a 9 week old. LOL, my back is stiff and I dont get as much sleep as I probably could, but that lil guy is pulled up against my breast and tummy every night on his side… that way he cant roll on his tummy and if he needs to roll to his back he can push on me with his legs and accomplish that. I am not very comfy with him on his back either as I know he has gagged and choked a couple times on his spit.
I had never heard of co-sleeping before a few weeks ago. I think it is kinda funny that we have to ‘name’ and ‘label’ everything, lol. 15 yrs ago co-sleeping was where everyone in the family slept in the same room, maybe seperate beds, but in the same room.
Anyway… Co-sleeping deaths aren’t considered SIDS because they know the cause of death… smothering. Years ago they would even know that the baby had been smothered and would put SIDS on the birth cert so the mom wouldn’t be riddled with guilt the rest of her life… nowadays-feelings be damned- we live in such a legalistic society that if you were in bed with your child and woke up to it passed away then that would be the finding for death. I personally dont know anywhere that would put cosleeping on a death cert as it is not recognized as a term in the medical field. It is a term brought about by word of mouth through moms calling it such and after a while it becomes the term that is used when refering to a mom sleeping with their child. Anyway, that is neither here nor there. By definition, SIDS is the unexplained death of an child under the age of 5. Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. That is the label they use when they don’t have a cause for death. When they came out in the 90’s and said don’t lay baby on their belly! the incidents of SIDS dropped by over 60% in the USA the following year. Now we just need to figure out what is causing the other 40% and we will cure SIDS.
I for one am for this new fangled term co-sleeping, lol… I think if you are more comfortable putting your child in a crib or sleeping with them, do what you believe is right for you and your child, that is what parenting is all about and we are all different.
As for co-sleeping causing SIDS… IMHO.. and this is just my opinion… I co-sleep to SAVE my son from SIDS. So, no I don’t think you are ignorant. I for one will not put my son to sleep where I can not hold him until he can safely move away from obstructive objects by himself.

Edit: AMEN Sarah… I always wonder why people dont report obvious trolls.
I have to say that being overweight has nothing to do with smothering your child… it is how heavy you sleep. I am overweight by about 50lbs and I sleep with my son darn near under me, lol… my hubby always says – if he could find a way to crawl back in you would let him, lol…. anyway, I sleep very lightly… as soon as he is kicking my first reaction is to reach up and find his mouth to make sure he is not getting smothered, most times he just lost his binky. (pacifier). I am actually stiff as all hell from sleeping so still all night. He slept through the night one night and my muscles are still so sore!
If you are overweight dont give up cosleeping just for that reason, if you arent comfy with it so be it, but dont let people tell you that because you are overweight you cant do it. I am here to tell you that I am a pudgy mom that has slept with him literally since day one. I had him sleep on my chest in the hospital, he never spent a night in his bassinet. Those are things you never get back.
Let that one poster be judgmental, it is always those kinds of people who end up on the Maury show after one kid being lifted by a crane to the fat farm.

I decided not to co-sleep for two reasons. First is it is hard habit to break when started. Second was not that it was a SID risk but a risk of suffocation. You even mention co-sleeping deaths and not all of co-sleeping deaths occur when a person is drunk or high. I felt if I could do something to prevent my child from being at risk I would do so. I felt co-sleeping for us was just not a good idea. I like to many blankets and pillows on the bed for it to be safe. Often people refer to the deaths as SIDS and you are correct when saying that is not the case. Also people assume the risk is from rolling on them but again the main cause of death is suffocation ( in the pillows, blankets, between the mattress and wall etc). Some deaths have happened from the rolling though. Yes Mothers instinct is a good preventative measure for this but it has happened not only from a drunk but from a highly exhausted sober parent. So all things considered I chose not to not from a SID fear but for the safety of my child- she could easily suffocate in my bed. What I do is get some cuddle time in the evening where we lay on the bed cuddling, singing, talking and relaxing. We love this awake bonding time and then go to sleep in our own beds where we both sleep good. It really is personal choice and how one feels comfortable. But you are right most deaths are not SIDS but suffocation