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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

90 replies

NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown · 04/09/2012 21:26

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?

OP posts:
McHappyPants2012 · 04/09/2012 21:54

and the way that car seat was fitted is behond shocking

Thelobsterswife · 04/09/2012 21:54

Coola so sorry to hear of your family history.
I don't think it is fair to say the midwife is stupid. She is coming across as annoying and possibly ill informed, but that could be the editing. But what a tough job she has.

CoolaSchmoola · 04/09/2012 21:55

There are a lot of things that can be done to reduce the risk - we've done all of them, fastidiously. Luckily most people don't have to wire their baby up to an apnoea monitor every night for ten months, and weigh them daily (little known fact - the only constant in all recorded SIDS deaths is that the babies lost weight prior to dying) which is what we have had to do. We have also had to do a twenty point health check every day and if anything was not right it was straight to the GP same day.

The way I see it, as someone who has had to deal with knowing there is a significant family history and with false alarms, hospital admissions, tests etc - if there is anything that can be done to reduce the risk in my mind it's worth doing.

There is a wealth of research, and some contradictory evidence but the majority show that over-heating and smoking are significant factors.

Thankfully numbers of SIDS deaths are very low - much lower than when FSID started their research. And that lowering is attributed to their sleep safe campaign and the advice they give based on research done on families like mine. So whether or not people choose to believe it the numbers do speak for themselves. Numbers of deaths have gone down because people have followed the recommendations - and not co-sleeping is one of them.

McHappyPants2012 · 04/09/2012 21:55

gordyslovesheep i suppose child protection got to start somewhere

MrsCampbellBlack · 04/09/2012 21:55

Ghost - some midwifes are ill-informed. Sorry but they are.

Generally I've been lucky to encounter many lovely midwifes but certainly some of them weren't up to date with their information. And that's why I really think it pays to do your own research and talk to other medical professionals.

Flosshilde · 04/09/2012 21:56

McHappy - I would massively out myself if I revealed what it was about so you'll just have to wait till next year and guess which one is the MNer...

gordyslovesheep · 04/09/2012 21:57

and yes - that car seat!

DuelingFanjo · 04/09/2012 21:57

"Numbers of deaths have gone down because people have followed the recommendations - and not co-sleeping is one of them."

is there any proof/evidence/stats to show that most babies who die from cot-death/sids do so as a result of bed sharing?

McHappyPants2012 · 04/09/2012 22:01

i know research is a good thing, but saying XYZ factors in SID is like blaming the parents.

happygilmore · 04/09/2012 22:02

Summary of evidence here about bed sharing - fsid.org.uk/document.doc?id=42

If done safely there's probably not much in it (is my take on the research) but if you're a smoker is much riskier.

happygilmore · 04/09/2012 22:02

Dueling -biggest risk factors for SIDS are maternal age, social class, smoking and sleeping on front.

crackcrackcrak · 04/09/2012 22:07

Afaik it's co sleeping whilst smoking, using alcohol or drugs and or if you are a heavy sleeper that is identified as a risk. Co sleeping is also more risky if the baby is ff - or less risky if thru are bf - don't want to sound like I'm preaching.
Keeping the baby in the room with you at night, using a dummy and following the feet to foot model are also encouraged as protective factors.

KenLeeeeeee · 04/09/2012 22:07

[
Grin]

CoolaSchmoola · 04/09/2012 22:08

But the factors are there. There will always be some babies who die and there will be absolutely no reason for it. The parents will have followed the letter of the advice and it's just a very very sad thing. But others will die and things could have been done which may have reduced the risk - and because certain things show up as factors in SIDS over and over again it is advised to avoid them.

DuelingFanjo - at no point did I say that "most" babies die from SIDS do so as a result of bed sharing. I said that not co-sleeping was one of them, the main ones being overheating and smoking. Overheating can occur whilst co-sleeping, hence why it's not recommended and can be classed as a risk factor.

One thing I will say is that because of our situation we were given what you might call "stronger" recommendations - so where a lot of advice is don't co-sleep before 4 months, if you've been drinking, smoke, or take drugs, for us it was a categoric do NOT co-sleep.

And the reason that the recommended term is SIDS and not "cot death" any more is because of the false implication that the babies who died were all doing so in a cot. Because they weren't and don't all die in cots.

GoldPicnminx · 04/09/2012 22:08

Otoh, they all had funky cars.

happygilmore · 04/09/2012 22:10

crackcrackcrack that is not true about ff/bf - read the link I posted.

Bf is a protective factor in itself however.

Original poster
NiceCupOfTeaAndASitDown · 04/09/2012 22:13

Wow there's a lot to be said on this subject. OMG that car seat, I cringed watching that! I'd just like to say I was not in any way suggesting the midwife was stupid, just questioning whether the statement she made stood alone as fact as I was pretty sure it didn't - of course I understand that only so much could be shown but there's such a lot of info to get across about the subject - I think a statement like that 'out of context' so to speak can be misleading

I also read (in the science of parenting I think) that in countries where co-sleeping is the norm there is no term for SIDS because it doesn't happen. Unfortunately there are many interpretations of co-sleeping so I guess that's where potentially things can go wrong

OP posts:
happygilmore · 04/09/2012 22:14

SIDS is definitely world wide, read the FSID research.

Thelobsterswife · 04/09/2012 22:21

CupofTea it was another poster who said she was stupid. I think it was very unfortunate and a missed opportunity, whether it was down to editing or the midwife being ill informed. At the very least, the voice over should have added some further advice and facts about SIDS.

edam · 04/09/2012 22:22

Coola, that must have been terrifying for you. So glad you all came through it OK.

It is tricky, though, to extrapolate out from a family with an unusually high risk of SIDS to the general population. And trickier for a midwife to try to get all the nuances of the advice across in a few seconds of film that will have been edited - who knows, maybe she did go into more detail with the parents but it just wasn't shown.

FWIW, I didn't co-sleep because I take regular medicine (at bedtime) and didn't want to take any risks that I could possibly avoid. Which led to some miserable night time feeds, because he'd fall asleep feeding, then wake up when I put him back in his cot. Sleeping on his back was not great because he suffered badly from colic but I was too scared to co-sleep or let him sleep on his front or side (until he got to the stage where he could roll over where you can't stop them any more).

However, other mothers will judge how the advice affects them and their babies and may well make a different choice to me. The important thing is to have the best information that you can apply to your own situation.

FrillyMilly · 04/09/2012 22:24

Surely it's a case of weighing up risks in your situation. My DS does not sleep unless co sleeping (safely I might add). When I tried to settle him in his Moses basket I got barely any sleep. For me I thought this increased his risk of SIDs if I didn't co sleep as I would have been more likely to fall asleep with him in a chair or on the couch due to sheer exhaustion.

happygilmore · 04/09/2012 22:28

It's definitely about weighing up risks - e.g. if you are so tired, are you more likely to crash your car?

I just don't think it is right to say things that aren't true (or at least aren't borne out by the available evidence) e.g. it is safer to co-sleep bf rather than ff. Actually, the evidence doesn't seem to suggest that.

BUT the overall deaths from SIDS are small and there are other risks that are bigger e.g. driving your car. Sorry to be brutal (and I speak as someone with personal experience of SIDS) but that is the truth for most.

DuelingFanjo · 04/09/2012 22:30

It's not that you said it but that the midwife on national tv did, as if it were some kind of fact.

happygilmore · 04/09/2012 22:31

Is that to me dueling? I was responding to others on the thread.

DuelingFanjo · 04/09/2012 22:34

No sorry, was to coolaschmoola. My point was that it's not good to make statements like the midwife did.

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