Parents who've been drinking may not put babies to bed on their backs, researchers say
Article Source: msnbc.com
from:msnbc.comSIDS deaths spike by 33 percent on New Year's Day
Seeded on Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:48 PM EST (msnbc.com)
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Based on this new information, have they looked into the drinking habits of mothers of babies that dies of SIDS? I mean they say they have no idea what causes yet they have a clear cut data showing that New Years drinking has a direct impact. Maybe the same thing that cause Fetal Alcohol Syndrome causes SIDS......mommies who like the bottle a little too much.
Did you even bother to read the article? Or are your reading comprehension skills just that bad? The link between drinking parents (i.e. could be EITHER parent, not just moms) on New Years and increased SIDS was that inebriated adults may be careless in how they lay the child down to sleep. Studies have implicated stomach sleeping in SIDS and drunk caregivers may forget to lay babies on their backs, thus an increase in SIDS cases. This is the result of behavior after the child has been born and has absolutely no connection to the mechanism that produces physical damage to a developing fetus when a pregnant woman drinks. It only takes one night of drinking and one bad decision by a mother or a father -- it does not mean mommy was an alcoholic.
SAD-
Read beyond the article:
Alcohol Use is listed as a Prenatal Risk for SIDS.
or perhaps, on a more sinister level, hungover jerks who don't want to be bothered with baby's crying are a little more likely to put a pillow over it's head. I'm not suggesting for even a moment that this sort of thing is the cause of all SIDS deaths, many completely innocent and deeply grieving parents have had the finger unfairly pointed at them, but there are likely some cases which do indeed have a malicious cause, and it seems likely to me that these cases might increase on New Year's Day.
The main thing is that if you have a young child and are planning on drinking to the point of intoxication, you should make sure a sober adult is around, even if you are there. Anything can happen, including the need for a late night run to the ER and having that person to drive and mediate with doctors would just be a good call. Drinking doesn't make you a bad parent, but failure to think ahead could.
The reality of the finding is that far too often negligent homicide is listed as SIDS for a cause of death. A parents drinking can in no way cause their already born childs death... but their resulting actions can.
What a conflated nest of "what ifs." Nothing in the article - or the so-called research - even comes close to supporting the flashing neon standalone that people are supposed to proto-process and click on: OMG, New Year's kills 33% more babies!!!
The only point of value is at the end: make sure whom you hire as a babysitter. DUH.
Or maybe even, ..."as long as I am responsible for an innocent person's life I will not get drunk anymore." Is drinking so important that we have to rationalize a dozen different ways that we could do it without killing our children?
I agree. Who can't wait until their child is at least 5 before binge-drinking?
Darwinianism in action...
So how did any of my kids manage to survive? When they were being raised, the rule was to put them to sleep on their stomachs. I had four children, none of whom ever slept on their backs...and yet...surprise! , they all survived infancy and grew to adulthood. An article like this makes me think...Hogwash!
Good point! Since your babies didn't actually die from sleeping on their stomachs, it's completely ridiculous that any other babies might have. Congratulations on posting the stupidest comment that I've seen all day. And on Newsvine, that really takes some effort!
Josh, some people just cannot separate "scientific study" from "anecdote".
Kati-
I think we all did, right. The whole Back to Back movement is fairly recent. Which makes it an odd campaign name because it implies that sleeping on your stomach was the new trend. Oddly, my son could not sleep more than two hours on his back. At about 6 weeks he slept for about 6 hours straight and at about 3 AM I woke up in a fright because of this. Went in to check on him and sure enough, he rolled on to his stomach and was happy as a clam. From that point forward we couldn't stop him from rolling himself so we stopped trying.
Josh - She is simply pointing out something that 90% of every parent I have met has said which is that we have all had issues getting our kids to sleep on their backs and as soon as they could turn themselves they did and were much happier sleepers. All our parents said that they never put us on their backs. And by the way, back sleeping has REDUCED the number of SIDS cases. But kids still die of SIDS when sleeping on their back. So obviously there is no proof that stomach sleeping is the cause.
I am convinced that SIDS is a result of sexual abuse. When a big object is placed in a baby's mouth, it blocks the air passages to the brain, and will cause the baby's death. When babies sleep with their parents, it is usually with the father..or on his side of the bed. On weekends fathers are more likely to be home. They also have had enough to drink to embolden them.
There are more sex addicts every day, They are either genetically created or they have been abused themselves (genetics makes more sense and gives hope that the gene could be identified and altered in utero.) Whichever you believe, there is no doubt that sex addicts are multiplying. Why won't science find the answer?
Seriously? We lost our son to SIDS and could not have been more loving and resposnsible parents. We have also met many other wonderful parents who have lost children the same way, who in no way did anything to deserve such a horrible, devastating thing to happen to them. Shame on you.
Nancy
Are you f***ing kidding me??????????? I can only hope that you are finally willing to go get on the meds you need to be a productive human!!!
Angela: I don't think meds. will help Nancy; sounds like SHE needs to get off the bottle.
Since 1968 when my oldest was born, I've heard nothing about SIDS that has any remotely definitive answers; it's STILL as elusive now as then. BTW, that's also when it started to become known in the general population. And we were told by Pediatricians to put the baby on his/her TUMMY so they wouldn't aspirate any vomitus or other fluids. By the time my 2nd. was born in 1974, it was "put the baby on their SIDE with blankets rolled up to keep him from rolling onto his BACK!
So, what the hell IS the favored position of the year now? Until someone does some serious science like a double-blind, peer-reviewed study with some findings that can be replicated ( the gold standard for science), then this is just a slow news day. {YAWN}
P.S. As to fetal alcohol syndrome, I never drank with my 1st.-bright child who had some hyperactivity, SAD, & other allergies. Well adjusted today, luckily.
Second child, whom I DID drink ( not much) with, has an I.Q. higher than any of us on here.
Go figure! BTW, this was before drinking was "frowned" upon. I wonder if the rates of FAS are higher in Europe with everyone drinking wine with meals as a custom? Surely studies there could correlate drinking & FAS!?
Reminds me of the old "Superbowl Sunday" wife beating statistics. Fabricated bull.
Facts are that there are many SIDS deaths which are perpetrated by the parents and passed off as SIDS. Post Partum depression can and does cause a lot of grief.
Can't smoke? Don't drink!
wd401...............
AGREED!
Such BS , made up garbage to try an answer a real unknown. If drunk parents were a real viable cause and effect reason for SIDS then we would be seeing way more infants dying.
Let's face it. Despite caring parents that do everything right, babies die. And it's sad and horrible.
But please do not head line media just for ratings with absurd stories that only inflame the public.
"Everything in moderation". Alcohol CAN be enjoyed responsibly, even when children are present. A parent's first responsibility is protecting the children. It requires discipline to restrict one's self from over indulging. And if you just "have" to cut loose, hire a responsible baby sitter to stay the night and arrange for a safe ride home.
It's sad that research like this gets published. I'm sure that parental drinking does put kids more at risk, but I'm also fairly certain that there's no way to coax out a statistically significant 33% difference in 30 individual days out of 30 years of data for this. Perhaps there could be statistical significance if deaths tripled the average on those days, but there's no way the 33% increase conjecture is outside normal statistical deviation on this small of a sample. It probably will, however, get the researchers more funding and I suppose that was the real goal here.
Perhaps further research will show a 30% drop in SIDS death on Flag Day or some other statistical fluke if we feed them a few hundred thousand more research dollars.
Was sample size even mentioned in the article? You could be right, but I would suspect that 33% was outside the standard deviation unless you have a VERY small study group.
Good point, JLM. Was the group stats. @ 1200 or so or smaller?
I've just re-read the article.
The study "suggests" alcohol related.
"How do you get alcohol from death certificates?"
"Why because we looked at car crashes and when they occur!"
How do car crashes correlate with SIDS?"
"Well the data says that kids are less likely to to be belted in when one adult is impaired?
"Again how does this correlate with Sids?"
"It's the babysitter you idiot!"
As a person who has had a family SIDS death(not my own child), I can tell you that IF the COD is truly SIDS(you can only determine this by an autopsy), the child could be in a doctor's office at the time of the inicident and there would be no chance of revival. SIDS is SIDS. The only symptom is DEATH. It can happen in a mother's arms(how horrifying).
They are taking this pretty far. I doubt that a parent who is following the 'back to sleep' practice on a nightly basis would forget the whole thing for New Years Eve.
humansmatter, have you always taken things out of context your whole life?
The article simply states that some people that may have been drinking on New Year's should check that their child was properly put on their back when going to bed.
Your long diatribe was totally off base and I pray for you.
Alcohol DOES pass into breast milk. To pretend that TOO does not contribute to infants forgetting to breath would be denial taken to all extremes.
In CHOOSING to become a mother, one best have been mature enough before playing with matches to have prepared the way, place and life for her child. She will have already made the decision to GIVE UP her life if need be, for her child. DRINK is NOT in any way, shape or form representative of "life", but rather the desire to run away from life and its responsibilities.
"forgetting to breathe' is apnea, not SIDS
They say that apnea is one of the main causes for SIDS. Infants brains are under developed and they forget to breathe which leads to death. I am not a doctor, but there is something fishy about this story, read my comment!
True, Pmoscatelli. That is what some of the latest research is saying. Thank you for not making light of this terrible topic.
PMoscatelli: good point! But isn't breathing part of the autonomic system which develops before the brain does?
I think that parents should limit their infant childrens' drinking to only one or perhaps 2 drinks since it is New Years Eve. Any more than that would not be responsible.
The statistics may not explain the whole picture, but I lost a grandbaby boy in exactly this way. We got a call from the Sheriff's office that the little boy was found dead in his crib, presumably from SIDS. When we arrived, our son and his wife were so sloppy drunk, they barely knew that the baby had died. We will never know exactly how it happened. Was he dropped? Was he fed bad milk? Was he put to bed improperly? Nobody knows because "nobody" was there with him when he died. You can argue the statistics if you want, but this kind of family tragedy can be avoided.
Sorry for your loss, I don't think they will ever really figure out what causes SIDS!!
So sorry to hear of the loss of your angel. God bless you and your family.
Thank you for sharing. Your heartbreaking experience has humanized this article. I am so sorry for the loss of your grandson.
Former Grandpa: My heart truly goes out to you esp. the part about "former." That must hurt 24/7. Prayers for you & your grandson. I remember how my Pop loved both of my boys as did my father-in-law. Hopefully, you will have a little one to be your "grandbaby" someday soon!
This article is crazy, what study? Researches actually spent the night at various couples homes around the US on New Years Eve? Question, why didn't the researches keep an eye on those infants, if the parents were unable to parent? Dumb!!
If there is a known cause of death in a baby, ie. suffocation, car accident injury, This is not SIDS so I think the information is this article is sadly lacking regarding SIDS. But, as far as taking care of your children, you are right sober is much better.
I'm thinking that they spiced up this article and research by including New Years Eve since it is about that time, but if you get past that this article basically says, stop being selfish and take care of your children. There are more and more younger people (20-30) who have kids and who still think that getting drunk is the only way to have fun during the holidays and weekends and this is a misguided way to get those peoples' attention.
I get 33% more ass on New Years as well.
What a load. Booze it up!!
Another stupid article that may or may not accurately report on research findings. If the baby died because a mother or father suffocated it (whether intentionally or accidentally), then it didn't die of SIDS. SIDS is, by definition, death due to unknown causes. There is no evidence that cosleeping leads to higher risk of SIDS. There is good evidence that solitary sleeping leads to higher risk of SIDS -- babies who cosleep are almost always on their backs, and their mothers wake up to jolly them out of any apnea episode they might have. Cosleeping babies nurse more often and breastfeeding is protective against SIDS. The vast majority of babies who die of SIDS die in their cribs. And drop-side cribs have now been outlawed because so many babies have died in them. Remember, too, that a 33% increase can mean an increase of 3 babies to 4. That's a 33% increase. Who knows what is going on with New Year's Eve and SIDS. Perhaps nothing. Until the medical examiners come up with a way to distinguish SIDS from deliberate smothering, we will never know how many supposed SIDS deaths are deliberate.
Couldn't get past a Greek gyno named "Soranus."
Okay, so ... it's not called "SIDS" ... it's called "neglect."
I love how they gloss @!$%# over.
In this case glossing it over doesn't really benefit anyone, though ...
(methinks a reporter has a skeleton in their closet)
A "circumstantial" study and its conclusions were so flawed they were laughable.
The researches and subsequent reporters of this story must be high on something.
This nothing more then a propaganda story. Vaccines are the culprit in the majority of these deaths but any proof to the truth gets blamed on stories like this to take away from the main cause of poor health.
Vaccines? You are just as irresponsible in saying that as the author mistaking explanable infant accidental deaths with SIDS. Unless you have a legitimate study to cite?
Buffy: "Circumstantial"=" Anecdotal" for veracity!
icstars-1: BINGO!
Perhaps loud fireworks disrupts the baby's sleep. Perhaps the baby's sleeping schedule is simply altered. I have doubts an altered sleeping position is what's happening in the majority of these cases, because if you always place the baby on his/her back, wouldn't you automatically do the same while intoxicated (out of habit?) They should not be making assumptions on the reason.
My heart goes out to all parents whose babies pass away from SIDs.
The reason babies die suddenly (SIDS) has yet to be determined, but one theory is babies lying on their stomachs are more at risk. This article just puts more heartache and blame on parents who don't put their babies on their backs and they die suddenly.. bad article.
This article is a disgrace. If you don't know what SIDS is, look it up before irresponsibly putting it in an article. SIDS is the unexpected, sudden death of a child under one year old in which an autopsy does not reveal the cause of death.
If someone rolls over on their baby while asleep, you aren't even going to need an autopsy to determine the cause of death. Most babies under one year old have just started crawling; toddlers who are too old for SIDS are far more likely to be the ones getting into alcohol left out from the night before.
Certainly it is dangerous for children to not have a sober caretaker, and it is hopefully sobering for many parents to read an article that lists many dangers they should avoid, but don't conflate SIDS with other sudden and explanable deaths of children.
So SIDS is not so much a mystery, as more a lack of proper (sober) parental supervision.
That is what the article is saying.
I find it hard to believe thats the only cause as there have been many overly aware and cautious parents that have losts their infants to SIDS.