In a message dated 10/3/1999 9:41:44 PM Central Daylight Time, writes: << I know of a recent local death due to co-sleeping, and I am sure others on the list know of cases. Why "dilute" an excellent adjunct to child rearing (breast feeding) with a potentially fatal and unnecessary practice? >> At the risk of having my cypberhands smacked, and my math skills laughed at, let me point out a couple of things. Based on the Washington Post article, in 8 years, 515 babies died in adult beds -- and the article delineated how they died. That's 64 babies per year from ANY cause -- suffocation, wedging, strangulation, etc etc etc. 15 babies/year died from "overlaying." That means 49 babies died from being in the adult bed. We don't know if, in fact, those 49 babies were co-sleeping, if there was an adult or sibling or anyone else in the bed with them. They might have been left on grandma's bed while everyone else was eating dinner, for all we know. Ok, the CPSC has admitted that 50 babies per year die from being in faulty cribs. Interestingly enough, though 1 more baby/year dies from being in a faulty crib, they don't tell us to stop putting babies in cribs -- they tell us to make the cribs safer. 49 babies die from adult bed "accidents" and they tell us it is unsafe for a baby to sleep in an adult bed. Before you poohpooh that, the other fact that wasn't widely broadcast is that 2705 babies per year die of SIDS -- alone, in a crib. Only 15 babies a year die from "overlaying" (which, in point of fact, could be infanticide, or a drunk/drug taking parent -- yes, there were only two REPORTED incidences of the adult being drunk or under the influence of drugs, but that was the adult REPORTING it.) or SIDS. Now, I'm not trying to claim that co-sleeping prevents SIDS, but when 2705 babies (of approximately 4,000,000 born each year) die alone in their cribs vs. 15 of the reported 2,000,000 that spend part or all of each night in their parents' bed -- well, frankly, I think I'd rather have my baby with me and take those odds.... I'm very sad over any baby that dies for any reason, but when a faulty and incomplete "study" terrifies parents of falling asleep with their babies while breastfeeding, THAT'S criminal. Jan