[coredog64]

We co-slept with all three kids and caught flak for it from the pediatrician. She was certain that one or both parents were going to roll over onto the kids and squish them. Very pleased we did it, but you may have to stand your ground with well-meaning but ignorant people.

[giarc]

My wife looked into this and I think the safety issue is mostly a myth. I think the rare cases of child deaths while co-sleeping were when the parent was drunk or smoking in the bed and caused a fire.

[cycrutchfield]

Your pediatrician is ignorant about SIDS risks? They are much more likely to be informed about this matter than you, with your n=3 anecdote.

[spookthesunset]

I'm sure they are very educated about SIDS. But their job is to give you enough information on the pros and cons so you can make a well informed decision yourself.

It isn't the job of any expert to tell you if you should or should not do something. Humans have been cosleeping with their infants since time began. Clearly there are some serious pros to it. An expert who is truly good will never tell you what to do. They will only inform you of the pros and cons and let you arrive at your own conclusion.

It's the same deal with lawyers, dentists, accountants, security folks, UX designers, engineers and everything else. I mean, could you imagine what a product would look like if you only took input from your lawyer?

[cycrutchfield]

>Humans have been cosleeping with their infants since time began.

Take a look at a graph of infant mortality rates since time began, chief. Appealing to "this is how things have always been" does not really work in this case.

[spookthesunset]

> Take a look at a graph of infant mortality rates since time began, chief

Thats cool. I have. But we co-slept anyway because for us the benefits outweighed the risks. Especially while breastfeeding... Raw facts and data alone are not the only things required to make an informed decision on any subject. They only serve as inputs.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

"Slept with parents, eaten by a sabertooth-tiger"

Sorry the statement is not wrong, but it made me laugh a bit, the rates are probably all messy across the years.

[gsinclair]

There are a range of reasons why the paediatrician may not be giving the full story. Most particularly, they’re toeing the party (AAP) line, which is known to be more conservative than is needed.

Also, population-level data should not be the only input into an individual decision.