Back Sleeping?

Kerry asked in a comment about how I sleep my babies, back or side?

Ironically, I had just read a blog post about the topic of sleeping position just last night, and had commented on it and so this was already on my mind. (Kerry, you're psychic! Or tracking my browser history.) :-)

I slept my girls on their backs mainly -- pretty much 'cause they slept in either a bouncy chair or swing until they were pretty much old enough to turn into whatever position they wanted. So they mainly slept on their backs. Although I'm convinced they never slept long enough stretches to do any reshaping of their skulls! :-) With Annie being so spitty, we'd actually wanted her sleeping her on her side, on an incline. But since it turned out she'd only sleep in a bouncy chair, she was on her back, but her head was still elevated.

With Isaac, I planned on sleeping him however he slept best. (We ended up sleeping him on his back while swaddled at night -- during the day, for naps, he sleeps on his side(s).) I know the recommendation -- "Back to Sleep". The whole SIDS connection. That back sleeping is supposed to be the safest thing for the baby.

But I'd planned on sleeping him on his side, back or even (gasp) his stomach . . . whatever worked best and felt right. Which might be surprising to some, since I had a sister who passed away due to SIDS (while sleeping on her stomach -- the 'recommendation' at the time.)

It's actually because of our family's loss that I feel comfortable bucking the pediatrician's dire warnings. My sister didn't pass away because she was sleeping on her stomach. I believe she would've passed away no matter her sleeping position. She peacefully passed away because her body was going to, no matter what. This gets into my personal beliefs and relationship with God, so it obviously won't ring true for everyone, but for me, I believe that there are babies, that for whatever reason, are only meant to live for so long and then it's their time to go. This was the case with my sister. My Mom knew during her pregnancy that something was different with this baby, and countless other SIDS-Mom's that she talked to knew that their baby wasn't going to live long, some from the very beginning of their pregnancy. There are factors that seem to put babies at increased risk, but I believed that if I did what I felt was best, as their Mother, that my babies would be just fine. I wasn't going to make one 'bad' decision that doomed my child to crib death -- if it happened, it was because it was meant to. It wasn't in my hands, it was in God's. And the chances of it happening were slim. I just had faith that my mother's intuition wouldn't let me put my children at any additional risk. My plan was to sleep Isaac however worked best for him, and got us all the most sleep. Turns out that's probably side sleep -- since his day time naps rock (he'll take a few 2 hour naps a day while in his bassinet on his side). At night he doesn't sleep as well on his side, and needs to be swaddled -- and he'll sleep one longer stretch, but the rest of the night it's hard to get him back down. He prefers sleeping the rest of the night on his side in the crook of my arm, if he has it his way (which frankly, he usually does.) :-)
All that said -- since side and back sleep work, I haven't pushed stomach sleeping (despite the fact I actually personally believe that stomach sleep is the best for babies development and muscle control, and believe that back sleeping is the reason that all of my kids (and friends kids) crawled and walked later than my Mom's stomach sleeping children did by several months) -- so I guess the 'Back to Sleep' campaign has done it's job enough to keep even me from just putting their babies on their stomachs all willy-nilly. :-) I believe there are probably pros and cons to both sleeping positions (well, all three, with side lying). I think people need to do what feels best to them.

So that's my own two cents. I really liked a lot of what the blog post I linked to earlier had to say, some highlights being:

It's also important to note that while the number of SIDS diagnoses went down drastically [with the Back-to-Sleep campaign], the overall number of infant deaths hardly changed - just the number of SIDS diagnoses (by the way, the only way to really diagnose SIDS is to rule out every other possible cause of death.) It's also important to note that during this period- where the reduction in SIDS deaths is tied to just back-sleeping- there was a huge cultural push for breastfeeding (shown to reduce your SIDS risk by 2 or 3 times) and stopping second-hand smoke, and could also be tied to the drop in SIDS deaths.

. . . .

In other words, there is a set of risks, whether you sleep your baby on the belly or their back. I won't judge a mother either way. The risk of SIDS for a normal, healthy baby is very small compared to the risks that come from back-sleeping, but obviously death is infinitely more tragic than an asymmetrical head or hitting milestones a few months later. I do think that parents of babies that are more prone to SIDS (respiratory problems, prematurity, diagnosed apnea, snoring...) should consider follow all possible SIDS guidelines to the letter. But if a mommy lets her baby sleep on his or her belly, it's possible that instead of being a negligent parent, they are choosing a different set of (scientifically based) benefits and risks - longer sleep periods, deeper sleep, and more likely to meet milestones on time.
If it's worth the risk to you, then go for it. I do. I personally feel that letting my baby sleep deeply is more important than the small risk of SIDS. But, I also understand that there's validity to valuing protection from SIDS above deep sleep. I really don't think you'd be "right" or "wrong" either way- or rather, I think both ways can be right, depending on what risks you're most comfortable with. No mother should ever feel judged for making an informed decision.