One Way to Sleep Through the Night and Avoid SIDS

It's the middle of the night.  From a semi deep sleep, I shoot up in bed, slightly disoriented.  "The baby," I say in a panicked voice.  I rouse the baby a bit, enough to get him to move on his own, but not wake up completely.  The baby fusses and wants to latch on.  I lay down, offer the breast and go right back to sleep.

This scene has happened about 6 times over my 15 years of parenting and five children.  The first time it happened was with my oldest, when she was about 3 weeks old.  We had just barely gotten into a nighttime routine, and the concept of a descent night's sleep was becoming reality again.  When it did happen, I didn't go back to sleep right away, I said a quick 'thank you' prayer first, and then vowed I would never let a baby of mine be alone during a sleep apnea episode.

Human children are designed... to nurse *very* frequently, based on the composition of the milk of the species, ...the size of the young child's stomach, the rapidity with which breast milk is digested, the need for an almost constant source of nutrients to grow that huge brain (in humans, especially), and so on. By very frequently, I mean 3-4 times per hour, for a few minutes each time. The way in which some young infants are fed in our culture -- trying to get them to shift to a 3-4 hour schedule, with feedings of 15-20 minutes at a time, goes against our basic physiology. But humans are very adaptable, and some mothers will be able to make sufficient milk with this very infrequent stimulation and draining of the breasts, and some children will be able to adapt to large meals spaced far apart. Unfortunately, some mothers don't make enough milk with this little nursing, and some babies can't adjust, and so are fussy, cry a lot, seem to want to nurse "before it is time" and fail to grow and thrive.

The same is true of sleeping. Human children are designed to be sleeping with their parents. The sense of touch is the most important sense to primates, along with sight. Young primates are carried on their mother's body and sleep with her for years after birth, often until well after weaning. The expected pattern is for mother and child to sleep together, and for child to be able to nurse whenever they want during the night. Normal, healthy, breastfed and co-sleeping children do not sleep "through the night" (say 7-9 hours at a stretch) until they are 3-4 years old, and no longer need night nursing. I repeat -- this is NORMAL and HEALTHY. Dr. James McKenna's research on co-sleeping clearly shows the dangers of solitary sleeping in young infants, who slip into abnormal patterns of very deep sleep from which it is very difficult for them to rouse themselves when they experience an episode of apnea (stop breathing). When co-sleeping, the mother is monitoring the baby's sleep and breathing patterns, even though she herself is asleep. When the baby has an episode of apnea, she rouses the baby by her movements and touch. This is thought to be the primary mechanism by which co-sleeping protects children from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. In other words, many cases of SIDS in solitary sleeping children are thought to be due to them having learned to sleep for long stretches at a time at a very early age, so they find themselves in these deep troughs of sleep, then they may experience an episode of apnea, and no one is there to notice or rouse them from it, so they just never start breathing again. Co-sleeping also allows a mother to monitor the baby's temperature during the night, to be there if they spit up and start to choke, and just to provide the normal, safe environment that the baby/child has been designed to expect.

So says Katherine Dettwyler, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Nutrition at Texas A&M University.

So, does that fact that 'Normal, healthy, breastfed and co-sleeping children do not sleep "through the night" (say 7-9 hours at a stretch)' mean that co sleeping and breastfeeding parents get less sleep than those parents who stuff their babies full of heavy proteins right before bed and put them to sleep in their own bed?

Not according to this study.  In fact, co sleeping parents report getting MORE sleep than their solitary sleeping counterparts. 

What about preventing SIDS?  Is it SAFER to co sleep?  Yes!  According to this study, it is 2X safer to co sleep!

Want to learn how to co sleep comfortably and safely?  Please visit James McKenna's site

To learn more about Infant Sleep, please visit Birthologie.com.

Disney is Pushing Their Way into Your Birth

File this one under 'You've Got to Be Freaking Kidding Me".

Disney already has our little girls wrapped around their fingers with their 'Princesses', our boys with their Buzz Lightyear's and Woody's, now they want your precious, fresh from heaven newborns, too. 

According to this article from The New York Times, Disney is sending representatives out to 580 hospitals to prey on new moms that are maybe even less than 24 hours post delivery.  All to promote their new Disney Baby products line.  The new moms get a themed onesie, a sales pitch, and are pressured to hand over their email address to sign up for Disney marketing email alerts.

I haven't always liked a good portion of decisions that Disney has made, but you know, I've taken my kids to Disneyland and certainly enjoy a Sleeping Beauty or Snow White here and there. 

I thought I had made my peace with Disney, but then this came up and I had to think twice. 

And really, this isn't about Disney so much as it is a principle. 

I highly suspect that other companies want to do exactly what Disney is doing, and for decades it's been done in sneakier ways - like Nestle giving you a take home bag full of formula.  Personally I find it disturbing that companies prey on new moms in this very vulnerable state.  Birth and the days and weeks following it, are a very sacred time that should be spent bonding and getting to know your baby, not branding him.

Shame on Disney, Nestle, and all the other companies out there looking to disturb this very important time in our lives and families.

But most of all, shame on the hospitals that our selling their customers out. 

That's right, you are a hospital's customer.  Maternity care is by far the most profitable part of a hospital and it is where they dump the majority of their marketing dollars.  Studies have shown that if they can get you to birth in their hospital you are more likely than not to return for other care.  I just find it such a lack of integrity that they would try to profit off your birth even more than they are in such an unethical way.

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Junk food diet may lower kids' IQ - Well, Duh!

Let's see - eat fruits and vegetable, become big and strong.  Eat junk food, and get sick.

I don't know anyone who doesn't believe that at least on some level, but now we have a study to support our suspicions on what junk food is doing to our kids' brains.

This study focused on 3,966 children for whom complete data were available. The researchers broke up the kids into three dietary patterns:

• "processed" high in fats and sugar intake
• "traditional" high in meat and vegetable intake
• "health conscious" high in salad, fruit and vegetables, rice and pasta.

After the researchers adjusted their findings for several factors, including breastfeeding duration and the amount of oily fish their mothers consumed while pregnant, they found that a highly processed food diet at the age of three was linked with a lower IQ at the age of 8.5. Every 1 point increase in dietary pattern score was associated with a 1.67 fall in IQ.

On the other hand, a healthy diet was associated with a higher IQ at the age of 8.5, with every 1 point increase in dietary pattern linked to a 1.2 increase in IQ.

"This suggests that any cognitive/behavioural effects relating to eating habits in early childhood may well persist into later childhood, despite any subsequent changes (including improvements) to dietary intake," say the researchers, whose study appears in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.

To learn more about infant nutrition, please visit Birthologie.com

Comedian Jim Breuer on Parents Getting Sleep

Ah, sleep.....that elusive subject that people tend to obsess over.

When I am with a group of parents and the topic of night time parenting comes up, in defense of some popular methods someone always pipes up with.

"Well, I just don't function well without sleep" or "I'm a better parent when I'm well rested"

News flash!  That's how everyone feels! 

So, how DO you get the maximum amount of sleep after you've become a parent?

There is quite a bit of evidence out there telling us that mother-baby bed sharing pairs actually get MORE sleep than their 'cry it out' counterparts, not to mention it's 2X safer than crib sleeping.  There really are a lot of risks your taking when you practice "crying it out", one of which is that it actually promotes damaging the brain.

"Don't stand unmoving outside the door of a crying baby whose only desire is to touch you. Go to your baby. Go to your baby a million times. Demonstrate that people can be trusted, that the environment can be trusted, that we live in a benign universe."

~ Peggy O'Mara

To learn more about infant sleep, please visit Birthologie.com

Cervical Exams: Who Needs 'Em?

Well, I was going to do a whole post on cervical exams, but then I ran across this little gem. 

I just got done writing a whole post entitled "What You Don't Know About Your Cervix Can Ruin Your Birth" and was going to follow it up with my opinion on cervical exams, but midwife Vita Mutari puts it so well, why re-invent the wheel?

So checking your cervix does not tell us: when you will go into labor, how fast your labor will be, or how easy or challenging your labor will be.

Ah, but checking your cervix prenatally DOES do SOMETHING!! It ruins the end of your pregnancy.

If you are not dilated yet, then that means you will begin doubting your body, feeling broken, doubting that this baby will “ever be born”. Please be reassured, the longest human pregnancy ever recorded was not “forever”. These moms who find out that they aren’t dilated leave my office discouraged, often looking beaten down and sad. What a terrible thing to feel when you are right on the cusp of having your baby! (Sometimes you’re only hours away from labor!) Your body has known how to conceive this baby, it has (without our assistance) been able to grow from a teeny tiny egg mixed with an even teenier sperm into an entire person!! A full grown baby with toes and hair and the cutest butt cheeks you’ll ever see!! It’s done this miraculous thing…and now, based on a stupid cervical check, you will lose a huge amount of faith in its ability to finish the job it started so perfectly? SHAME ON YOU! Your body is amazing, incredible, creating life! It deserves our utmost adoration…now is not the time to start doubting it! What has it done to deserve your skepticism of its perfection? Nothing…absolutely nothing!

If she is dilating…then celebration and feelings of accomplishment and she will then often run home and tell everyone that the baby is going to come at any moment! She quickly puts all of her affairs in order making sure everything is ready for the baby…and then she waits….
…..
…..
And she waits…
And I see her at the office a week later…and she’s smiling….sort of.

The rest of the piece is full of words of wisdom as great as this.  Really, ladies, routine vaginal exams are a relic of an old birthing model, that says that no one, not even you, should trust your body to birth.  That's not to say that occasionally they don't have their place when truly indicated, but as Vita points out, those times are few and far between.

So, the next time your caregiver insists on a vaginal exam "just because", don't hesitate to say no thank you.  I promise, nothing bad is going to happen.

To learn more about birth interventions, please visit Birthologie.com

This Waterbirth Video is Worth the Watch

It's not like being a Birth Junkie is the only thing I do, but I do combine everything else I do in with birth, which is why I really appreciate the artistic flair this lovely video took.

It's a very raw, and intimate look into this couple's experience.

Please enjoy!

To learn more about waterbirth, please visit Birthologie.com

50% Less Ear Infections and 90% Less Hospitalizations for Babies? Where Do I Sign Up?

Probably the two most stressful thing for parents of babies - and the babies themselves - are ear infections and having to have your child hospitalized.

What if there were a drug or device that would automatically cut ear infections by 50%* and hospital admission rates by 90%**?  Would you get it?  Pay a lot for it?  Of course!

What if it was breastfeeding that produced these results?  What if the longer and more exclusively you breastfed, the more protection it gave your baby?

Common sense says that given these benefits, that all women would breastfeed.  So why are the breastfeeding rates in the U.S. criminally low?

It's a simple matter of education.  Primarily, it's doctor's lack of education.  Did you know that formula companies not only sponsor many medical events and schools around the country, but actually sponsor classes on the benefits of formula?  Did you know that on average, doctors only receive 30 minutes of instruction on the benefits of breastfeeding?  Shoot, you get more education in my online audio breastfeeding module than your pediatrician or OB ever will.  Not a fair fight, in my opinion.

Add to that the aggressive marketing done by formula companies....

• "Here's a gift of formula from the hospital, sweetie."
• "Have that can of formula in your cupboard...just in case" 
• "You're going to want dad to feed the baby sometime, aren't you?" 
• "You can't possibly exclusively feed 2, 3, or 4 months" 
• "You can't possibly breastfeed and work."
• "Babies really do sleep better being fed formula or rice cereal" 
• "You were formula fed and you turned out just fine."

No wonder our rates are so low.  Add to that that we are one of the few developed countries in the world who doesn't offer incentives for breastfeeding.  For example, in Switzerland you are given at least $500 for breastfeeding your baby for 6 months, because they recognize the add value to the overall health of the community and national health care that breastfeeding provides.

Now there is yet another study confirming a slew of others...breastfeeding reduces the rate of ear infections, hospitalization, respiratory infections, eczema, and meningitis.

This study was also different than others because it examined the effect of exclusive breastfeeding compared to partial breastfeeding with additional formula. Partial breastfeeding had no substantial protective effect. Apparently, formula feeding decreases immunity. The authors suggest that their findings suggest an immunomodulatory effect of breastfeeding "hampered by the introduction of formula feeding."

Please watch this wonderful video

To learn more about breastfeeding, please visit Birthologie.com

50% Less Ear Infections and 90% Less Hospitalizations for Babies? Where Do I Sign Up?

Probably the two most stressful thing for parents of babies - and the babies themselves - are ear infections and having to have your child hospitalized.

What if there were a drug or device that would automatically cut ear infections by 50%* and hospital admission rates by 90%**?  Would you get it?  Pay a lot for it?  Of course!

What if it was breastfeeding that produced these results?  What if the longer and more exclusively you breastfed, the more protection it gave your baby?

Common sense says that given these benefits, that all women would breastfeed.  So why are the breastfeeding rates in the U.S. criminally low?

It's a simple matter of education.  Primarily, it's doctor's lack of education.  Did you know that formula companies not only sponsor many medical events and schools around the country, but actually sponsor classes on the benefits of formula?  Did you know that on average, doctors only receive 30 minutes of instruction on the benefits of breastfeeding?  Shoot, you get more education in my online audio breastfeeding module than your pediatrician or OB ever will.  Not a fair fight, in my opinion.

Add to that the aggressive marketing done by formula companies....

• "Here's a gift of formula from the hospital, sweetie."
• "Have that can of formula in your cupboard...just in case" 
• "You're going to want dad to feed the baby sometime, aren't you?" 
• "You can't possibly exclusively feed 2, 3, or 4 months" 
• "You can't possibly breastfeed and work."
• "Babies really do sleep better being fed formula or rice cereal" 
• "You were formula fed and you turned out just fine."

No wonder our rates are so low.  Add to that that we are one of the few developed countries in the world who doesn't offer incentives for breastfeeding.  For example, in Switzerland you are given at least $500 for breastfeeding your baby for 6 months, because they recognize the add value to the overall health of the community and national health care that breastfeeding provides.

To learn more about breastfeeding, please visit Birthologie.com

* Pediatr Infec Dis J 1994;13:183; Pediatrics 1984:74:S615; Acta Paediatr Scand 1982;71:567
**  San Fran:Public Adv, Inc,1981:45