I'm putting on my professional IBCLC hat on. The AAP has put out new recommendations for the use of pacifiers to prevent SIDS. The AAP also reiterated its opposition to co-bedding, but has come out in favour of having the baby in the same room as the parents.
What do you need to know about this?
The AAP has a Section on Breastfeeding which requested to review this recommendation and give its input. The request was denied.
Numerous studies have shown pacifiers reduce breastfeeding duration. For those that haven't been listening in the last few years, you're supposed to breastfeed your baby for AT LEAST 1 year, with the the first 6 months being exclusive. Study after study shows that when you introduce a pacifier, it's harder to continue breastfeeding. Why? It's simple, IMO. You start to find it awfully convenient to plug a baby up for 'just a few minutes' instead of taking the time to meet their needs by breastfeeding. And the baby starts to prefer a piece of plastic to you.
Pacifier use is also associated with higher rates of ear infections and dental problems.
Breasts are all the pacifiers a baby needs. Nature designed them to pacify, soothe, and nourish.
Breastfed babies have lower rates of SIDS. These recommendations are lumping together babies who are breastfed and babies who are artificially fed. These are two different populations, with differing needs.
Some researchers theorize that SIDS is caused by the babies falling into a very deep sleep and having a hard time arousing themselves. Breastfed babies arouse more easily than babies fed the artificial stuff.
When mothers and babies sleep together in a safe environment, the mother is very attuned to the baby. The slight noise of the mother being nearby may be protective in stopping the baby from falling too deeply asleep. And an attuned mother who is physically close to her baby is more likely to sense a problem.
The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine will be releasing a statement on this subject. Watch for it here. In the meantime, read their statement on co-sleeping.
And see the brilliant work of James McKenna, who researches how cultural biases shift supposedly 'objective medical research'. His Mother Baby Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame is doing groundbreaking work on this subject.
The other thing you need to know is that the AAP has in the past demonstrated that it is not immune to pressure and lobbying from formula manufacturers. See details here. Science is perverted not only by cultural bias, but by money.
Oh wait, there is one more thing you need to know. For thousands of years breastfeeding and co-sleeping were the norm. If our ancestors had decided to leave the babies in the cave next door, with perhaps a little piece of bone as a soother, we would not have survived as a species because the predators would have eaten us. Indeed, for most of the people living now on this earth, breastfeeding and co-sleeping are still the norm. When you live in a mud shack with your 12 relatives, you are not going to be placing your baby in a crib down the hall, with a piece of silicone in their mouth.
1 comment:
When had my first child, he had some serious issues with nipple confusion. Part of that, I believe was that the hospital was very unfriendly toward breastfeeding, and also gave the babies pacifiers that were identical to bottle nipples. The thing was so long and skinny I was amazed. I was so happy when I threw out that passy and he could learn to nurse effectively. But of course, you know who supplied the pacifiers, don't you??
It wasn't LLL!
Luckily my mom arrived a week after his birth and as she had nursed all of us (as her mom had before her...) she got me over the roughest parts.
anne
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