A couple weeks ago, I posted about how as new parents people work hard to scare you sh*tless in order for your baby to be safe.  I mean, if you do something or don’t do something, you’re baby (in all liklihood) will die.  I posted concerning SIDS and the scariness of that. 

SIDS is a serious thing and I don’t want anyone to think differently.  You should follow all of the recommendations set forth by the American Pediatric Association to prevent it from happening.  It’s amazing what education and few changes to how we care for our babies has done to the death rate from SIDS.  My point a couple week ago was some of the tactics used and the information disseminated and the affect it has on parents.  That first week my wife and I had Junior home, we were scared to go to sleep.. while we’re better now it’s still a scary thing.

Anyway, in that post, I had the director of SIDS Services-Illinois post.  This is what she wrote:

I agree with you fathers. You are the parent and you have to raise your baby in the way that you think is best for your child. But, don't you want to take advantage of the latest research in child development? Yes, it's true that babies are not intended to sleep thru the night. Waking up is the one biological defense that our otherwise defensely (sic)infants have to survival - wake up and cry to be cared for.
(Sorry tired parents).

Susie, of course you slept on your tummy. Most everyone did during the 20th century in the western world. But, there were 7000 babies dying a year due to SIDS. By flipping a baby on to his or her back, the number drops to 2200 babies. Amazing! Pretty simple.
I'd also guess that you weren't in a car seat nor did you wear a bike helmet. I even played on construction sites and drank water out of a garden hose. I'm alive and well.
But, not everyone is. These advancement in technology and research make it possible to have fewer deaths.

You're the parent, you get to decide. There are more tools in your parenting tool box than at any other time in history. Use them or not. You'll probably be one of the lucky ones - but if not, there's probably a support group for you.

She makes some good points, but at the same time she proves my point exactly.  We all slept on our tummies as kids and we’re all still alive. There are many that aren’t though and that’s where the back is best comes.

However, my main problem with this Executive Director’s comment is the last paragraph and specifically the last half sentence.  It’s this type of communication and scare tactics that I’m talking about.  “There’s a support group for you”?  That’s a classless line from an individual I would expect would have a bit more tact. 

In the end, you need to listen to the advice and the information given to us.  However, as parents and new parents out there, we need to find a way to get to a happy medium.  A place where information can be fairly and accurately passed out and a point where you’re not scaring people to death to make a point.

Any new parents knows that there’s a lot of people that will scare the hell out of you.  Birthing classes find ways to scare you.  Other parents find ways to scare you.  The internet finds a million ways to scare you.  Basically, it all boils down to the fact that if you do something (or not do something) it will somehow mean an increase chance that your baby will die. 

It’s very difficult to be a parent knowing that most of the decisions you face will lead to this increased risk.  Here are a couple areas that they scare the hell out of…

SIDS – Sudden Infant Death Syndrome:

This is a serious issue and because of great education to the masses, the rate of SIDS has decreased drastically.  However, there’s basically research showing that you can’t do anything without increasing the risk.  Stunning was reading through some information about acid reflux babies in information provided to her by a lactation specialist.  Well, reflux babies have a higher rate of SIDS.  WHY WOULD YOU HAVE THIS IN THERE?!?  People are reading this information because their kids have this and there’s little that can be done about it, but thanks for making us think about the fact that SIDS can happen because of it. 

Then there’s people on the internet.  We were researching the idea of supplementing with formula at night and breastfeeding during the day.  We ran across a Yahoo! Answers where someone said a baby would sleep better at night with formula since they don’t get as hungry as fast.  This was a response:

Babies aren't supposed to sleep through the night, this increases risk of SIDS. Definitely do not let them sleep more than five hours at a time.

Thanks.  (By the way, the formula made him sleep no longer at night.)

Breastfeeding versus Formula:

I’m with people that breastfeeding is awesome.  It makes sense that the thing babies need most would be in the milk refined for thousands and thousands of years.  However, sometimes, such as our case, it doesn’t work…  and people need to use formula.  WOW!  Search the internet to see what moms have to say about this.  Basically, if you give formula… your baby will be ADHD, dumb, unlikely to succeed in life, your bad parents for not giving breastmilk, your lazy, your baby will grow up to wear his hat backwards, and anything else that could go wrong will go wrong. 

There are other areas, like the carseat, germs, etc that have the same fear mongering associated with it.  It really makes parenting more difficult as you might imagine. So far though, I’m happy to report Junior is still alive.