To think that if midwives are going to be on national TV...

[NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown]

They should get their facts straight?!

Watching "The Midwives: Bringing Home Baby" and a midwife just told a couple that most babies who die of SIDS don't die in cots, "most babies die of SIDS because of bed-sharing, they get wedged" - she's talking about unsafe bed-sharing for a start (isn't she?!) ... And getting wedged would cause death by suffocation wouldn't it?!

So am I wrong in thinking that the 'info' she's giving is incorrect? And AIBU to think that facts should be checked before 'factual' programmes are allowed to air?

I've always thought SIDS occurrs when the baby is alone in the cot. It could be due to over heating which can also occurr whilst co-sleeping. Getting wedged is not the same as sids.

Yes, just seen this and it is very annoying. My health visitor told me the same thing . The very point of calling it SIDS is that it is unexplained death.

She's not wrong. FSID don't recommend bedsharing or co-sleeping because statistics do show that babies are more at risk in those situations. There are things that can be done to reduce the risk, but the facts are that babies are less at risk in their own bed.

My DD was on the FSID Coni Plus scheme as we have significant family history of SIDS - I wouldn't DREAM of co-sleeping. No matter what.

There is a lot of research to support over-heating being one of the main factors in SIDS - and babies in an adult bed, with modern heating, modern duvets and one or two adults are more significantly more likely to overheat than a baby in a cot. Swaddling also isn't recommended as it can more than triple the tog value of the item used to swaddle them.

Have a read of the safe sleep information on www.fsid.org.uk

Many people do co-sleep and for the vast majority nothing happens. Just as for years many people smoked and for the vast majority nothing happened - but research has shown that both are a factor in SIDS.

My GP is the Safeguarding GP in our area. When a child dies from SIDS she is the one who does the investigation. Every case she has attended the baby was either sleeping with the parent or the parent smoked. People don't like to hear it, but the evidence is there.

also watching and very annoyed at the misinformation on sids and co-sleeping!

Yes SIDS is an unexplained death - because they don't know whether babies die because they stop breathing, or they stop breathing because they died.

What they do know is that both over heating and smoking around a baby increase the risk of SIDS. My family have been taking part in these studies for 28 years - every single baby born for two generations has been supported through FSID.

Research into the how's and why's of every SIDS death has shown that in the majority of cases one or the other has been a factor....

actually plenty of studies have beem.done to show its fine if done safely. very good australian research on it recently.

with swaddling its about being aware of temp so minimal layers under swaddling ie just vest. swaddle with thin cotton sheet or muslin cloth and keep legs and hips loose in froggy position.

Thanks coola there's a lot of points in your post that are news to me, I will check out that site. I suppose without making an entire programme about it its hard to put all the facts into one clip of a documentary, I just think it would have been more helpful if the midwife had explained why what the couple were doing was wrong instead of talking to them about what other people might do - they'll probably go away thinking 'oh well we're not bed-sharing so we'll be fine' when that's not necessarily true

"She's not wrong. FSID don't recommend bedsharing or co-sleeping because statistics do show that babies are more at risk in those situations"

do you have a link to the stats which show that most babies who die from SIDS are bed-sharing? I am happy for that to be stated as fact on the BBC IF it is a fact but can anyone actually show me that it is?

Her statement seems un-true to me.

YANBU

This made me very cross indeed.

No mention of smoking just all about the co-sleeping. Stupid, stupid uninformed woman

I was a bit at her comment but I took it to mean 'sleeping together' as in on the sofa etc - not safe bed sharing following the guidelines

it's a bit misinformationy though

She did say bed sharing and on the sofa - as though the two were the same with equal risks which any safe co-sleeper knows they're not.

FSID don't recommend co-sleeping for babies under 4mths old though

The last stats I saw put the rate at 51% of SIDS cases occur in a cot, tr remaining 49% are in "other" sleeping arrangements with parents. That includes sleeping on chairs and sofas as well as in beds. I also read elsewhere that if you control for the known risk factors (smoking, drinking, medication, animals/older children in bed, use of pillows and duvets etc) that there are very few if any cases of babies dying whilst safely sleeping in bed with parents.

When I get back to my computer, I'll dig out the sources for that.

what she said was (word for word) "SID, and most babies who die because they're not sleeping in a cot. They die on a sofa or they die in a bed. Most of them are caused by bed-sharing"

tonight it has pissed me off.

why does a women who has been in the care system need to be refeered.

2 how the fuck didn't the 1st couple know how to make a bottle, wasn't they told in hospital

KEN it's me Zombie GRHLS !

I am filming a documentary with the BBC at the moment. They take hours and hours of film and end up using just a small proportion. There is a good chance that the midwife explained all the risks, but that it was edited down due to time constraints in the programme.

So please, bear this in mind, before you judge the midwife or call her uninformed.

In my area over the last 3 years the common factors present in SIDS deaths have been ff and CIO all were alone in the cot in their own rooms.

Sorry Floss but she said what Dueling quoted - how is that out of context?

whats it about floss

I thought there was a fairly well though of theory that suggested thatsafe co-sleeping actually reduced risk of SiDS, as SIDS may well be caused by young babies forgetting to breath, which doesn?t happen if they are close to the mother.

Countries where co-sleeping is common don't have SiDS.

Good references in Deborah JackJackJackJackson's 3 in the bed book

maybe judge the bbc instead for editing the info so badly that thousands of people believe it's true.

Wtf happened there?

Floss hide beat me to it. It'll have been edited heavily. The midwives from the other programmes have criticised the way it was edited.

They wouldn't be midwives if they didn't know what they were talking about.

But you're not unreasonable.

McHappy it was explained - she would have ticked a number of known risk factors - identified via serious case reviews and experience to target babies who MAY be at risk and support the parents to prevent it happening

no one said she WAS a risk but she had been in care, family and own history of mental illness, no support system, estranged from partner, unplanned pregnancy, etc etc

you have to start somewhere if child protection isn;t always going to be reactive