Every new parent will have been given the run down on SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Basically there’s about a million things that if you do them your baby will die. Second hand mattress – your baby will die; baby sleeping on their tummy – your baby will die; had a drink in the evening – your baby will die; co-sleep with your baby – your baby will die, and the list goes on and on.
I’m by no means trying to disparage the research that has
been done on SIDS or say that these risk factors are not important to consider.
Since the introduction of the ‘Reduce the Risk’ campaign in 1991, deaths
attributable to SIDS have dropped from 1,173 in 1991 to approximately 300 per
year currently. That is certainly not to be sniffed at, unfortunately what
those educating expectant parents on SIDS fail to do is explain the realities
of life.
For the first week that Lewis was home he would not sleep
any where else except for on my chest. As far as he was concerned he’s just
spent a lovely nine months all curled up, nice and warm, in my uterus and the
ridiculously over priced moses basket I had bought him just wasn’t up to
standard. I spent two nights wide awake holding my baby whilst Rob (husband)
fetched me coffee and Red Bull at regular intervals. I had to google if it was
OK to drink Red Bull whilst breastfeeding and since I couldn’t find conclusive
evidence decided it was probably better than falling asleep holding my baby, whereupon, he would of course inevitably die of SIDS.
It was one late night when Lewis had decided that he would
sleep somewhere other than my chest, not in his moses basket mind but rather in
the middle of our king size bed, that I sent a message to my antenatal group’s
whatsapp saying I had been kicked out of the bed and what should I do now. The
response was a unanimous “Get in there with him and get some sleep!”. I of
course was petrified at the idea but after a quick google (thank god for
google) of safe co-sleeping positions I got in and had what was probably the
best night’s sleep I’d had in months.
It wasn’t long before Lewis started to become more comfortable
sleeping in his moses basket and I was able to reclaim the bed, but to this day
if Lewis is having a particularly difficult night I’ll get into bed with him
and snuggle up so we can both get some sleep. In fact holding his hand whilst
we sleep together is still one of my most favourite times as a mum.
Co-sleeping isn’t for everyone and there is certainly
evidence based research to link it to an increased risk of SIDS, however, there
are plenty of safe co-sleeping resources available on the Internet and the
reality of life is that at some point you will co-sleep with your baby, I guarantee
it. So don’t be like me and panic that you’re going to kill your baby.
If you want more information on ‘Reduce the Risk’/’Back to
Sleep’ campaigns The Lullaby Trust
is a great resource. For information on safe co-sleeping the NCT website
has a good guide but there are loads of resources out there.
