Co-sleeping has often been a controversial subject. Some parents and experts love it, saying it brings the whole family together, makes for more confident children, and eases night time feedings. However, other experts think it is a dangerous practice that should be avoided.
The city of Milwaukee falls into the anti category when it comes to co-sleeping. The city started a new controversial campaign recently to encourage parents to put babies in their cribs.
The campaign is a dozen mattresses and two sofas along a busy intersection. While this may not sound inflammatory, each is inscribed with an anti-co-sleeping phrase such as “Babies who sleep here don’t always wake up” and “Imagine how many babies would still be alive if they’d slept in their crib.”
What prompted the city to start such a campaign? At least eight Milwaukee children have died in the last year while sleeping in beds or on sofas with parents or siblings. The yearly average of such sleep-related deaths in the city is 23.
Bevan Baker, the city’s health commissioner, said in a new conference, “Adult beds are not the place for babies to sleep safely — neither are couches or chairs.” While Common Council President Willie Hines admitted the new campaign may be disturbing to some, he notes that it does get their attention, saying “We must take every precautionary measure to protect our most precious jewels, our kids.”
Still, not everyone is pleased with the campaign. Director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame James McKenna calls the campaign “misleading, arrogant, and offensive” and feels the officials who approved the campaign should be fired. He pointed out that his research proves that babies are born expecting to sleep near their mothers for the touch, smell, and sound. He said the campaign tries to make a very natural and biological thing dangerous.
Milwaukee parents who support co-sleeping say the deaths from co-sleeping mostly come from parents who pass out from drugs and alcohol and suffocate their babies.
If you think the Milwaukee officials have lost their minds, think again. Indiana is advertising a commercial of a mother on the couch with her baby when it stops breathing and New York has launched a “Babies sleep safest alone” campaign.
What do you think about this controversial new campaign? It is inflammatory to co-sleeping parents or will it save lives?