Tag: SIDS

Why is the American Academy of Pediatrics exaggerating the benefits of breastfeeding?

In their most recent position statement on breastfeeding, the AAP doubled-down on the long-term benefits of breastfeeding, just as the evidence for those benefits was crumbling underneath their feet.  Why would they knowingly mislead millions of women?

The AAP doubled down on the long-term benefits of breastfeeding, just as the evidence for those benefits was crumbling underneath their feet.

In their most recent statement on breastfeeding, issued in 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) reaffirmed their earlier guidelines recommending 6 months of exclusive breastfeeding. They justified this recommendation by citing “the health outcomes of exclusively breastfed infants and infants who never or only partially breastfed.”

This statement represents a doubling down by the AAP. They are once again affirming idea breastfeeding confers massive, lifelong benefits to babies—benefits so profound, they say, that the decision to breastfeed should not be considered a “lifestyle” choice but in “investment” in your child’s future—despite recent, large, and better-designed studies have overwhelmingly shown that the benefits of breastfeeding in the developed world are trivial.

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Bedsharing and SIDS: Why I Chose to Bedshare with My Second Child

How risky is bedsharing with your child? And if you choose to bedshare, how can you do so as safely as possible?

My second baby slept in bed with me, all night, every night, from the time we took her home from the hospital until she was 3 months old. At first, I was almost too terrified to fall asleep, for fear that I would roll over and suffocate her.

After all, nearly all major medical organizations warn against bedsharing, on the grounds that it increases the chances of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

“The safest place for your baby to sleep is in the room where you sleep, but not in your bed. Place the baby’s crib or bassinet near your bed (within arm’s reach). This makes it easier to breastfeed and to bond with your baby,” according the The American Academy of Pediatrics.

Statements like these sound definitive. But, in fact, considerable scientific controversy surrounds the role of bedsharing in SIDS.

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