Saturday, June 13, 2009

breaking the law

yes-- i am guilty! i have broken the "back to sleep" law a couple of times... elisha wouldn't ever lay his head down when he was on his tummy- he wanted to see everything... a big time sleep fighter. but little bit has fallen asleep on her tummy a few times. i just thought i would share w/ y'all the cuteness we are missing out on by sleeping our children on their backs. our parents got to enjoy the little bottoms up in the air and smooshed cheeks everytime we were asleep. but since b/c of safety against sids we miss out on it-- here you go... the smooshed up cheeks and chin resting on her little hand...
the precious little feet curled up undeer her bum...


and cutest of all-- the sleepy stretch with her bottom up in the air.
now, should you decide to throw caution to the wind and put your little one on his tummy to sleep-- don't blame me ... i merely documented the cuteness so that you wouldn't be deprived... now off to swaddle her and put her on her back...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am a complete "law breaker" when it comes to sleeping babies! All three of mine have/are slept/sleeping on their tummies. It's the best!!!

How the SIDS Back to Sleep Campaign Caused the Autism Epidemic said...

I'm just surfing the net for sids info and came across your blog. Stomach sleep is definitely much healthier than back sleep. It's also much more natural so you are giving your kid a gift by not falling prey to the hysteria generated by the medical profession.
Here's a few things different researchers have pointed out:

“Since the implementation of the “Back to Sleep” campaign, therapists are seeing increasing numbers of kindergarten-aged children who are unable to hold a pencil.”
Susan Syron, Pediatric Physical Therapist

“In its fundamental purpose it has been largely successful. The incidence of SIDS has been reduced dramatically. However, as many orthotists can attest, this important gain has not been without its lesser comorbidities. The one we tend to think of has been the rapid increase in the incidence of positional plagiocephaly and positional brachycephaly. However, there have been whispers and rumors of other effects.”
Phil Stevens, MEd, CPO in his article THE FLIP SIDE OF THE BACK TO SLEEP CAMPAIGN

“There are indications of a rapidly growing population of infants who show developmental abnormalities as a result of prolonged exposure to the supine position.”
Dr. Ralph Pelligra - ScientificWorld Journal Article - 2005

Suffocation Rates went up 14% per year every year between 1996 and 2004. 1996 was the year that the back sleep only advice was recommended by the AAP. (Shapiro-Mendoz, Journal of Pediatrics, 2009)

“A lot of us are concerned that the rate (of SIDS) isn’t decreasing significantly, but that a lot of it is just code shifting,’ said John Kattwinkel, chairman of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s special task force on SIDS.”
Scripps Howard News Service Interview

Also, infants who sleep supine compared to infants who sleep in the prone position have higher risks of the following developmental delays and deformities:
- Social skills delays at 6 months (Dewey, Fleming, et al, 1998)
- Motor skills delays at 6 months (Dewey, Fleming, et al, 1998)
- Supine Sleep causes increased rates of gastroesophageal reflux (GER) (Corvaglia, 2007)
- Milestone delays (Davis, Moon, et al., 1998)
- Increased duration of sleep apnea episodes during REM sleep at both 2.5 months and 5 months (Skadberg, Markestad, 1997)
- 6% decrease in sleep duration (Kahn, Grosswasser, et al.,1993)
- 1 in 300 infants had plagiocephaly in 1974 (Graham, Gomez, et al., 2005)
- 1 in 60 infants had plagiocephaly in 1996 (Graham, Gomez, et al., 2005)

"Federal records show a dramatic decline in reported cases of SIDS, dropping from 4,895 cases in 1992 to only 2,247 in 2004, the most recent year for which complete data is available. The records reviewed by Scripps showed that cases of SIDS virtually disappeared in some states and cities over the last several years, but closer examination of the data makes it evident that thousands of those lives have not been ‘saved,’ but rather lost under another name. Coroners and medical examiners said SIDS was responsible for nearly 80 percent of all sudden infant deaths 15 years ago and only 55 percent in 2004. What increased during this time were diagnoses that CDC statisticians labeled as "threats to breathing" and ‘other ill-defined causes of mortality.’"
Bowman and Hargrove, Scripps Howard News Service

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/SIDSandPlagiocephaly

LB said...

oh I love the picture of her with her little bottom sticking up in the air. Too, too cute.