I'm guessing most of these moms are single, with multiple children and receive little to no help from the father(s) of these kids. They are also probably young and uneducated.
At the end of the day they are physically and emotionally exhausted and when they go to sleep, they sleep harder and are less likely to be responsive to a baby in peril.
Just my $0.02.
Without info on the 18, it could be anything. Life styles, high risk babies, environment, who knows? It was interesting that cities were mentioned. Why isn’t this happening in rural areas also?
Pity is the fuel for the wasted effort engines of compassion.
I’d maybe accept your two cents Drew.
But even if your theory is correct, it is still about lifestyle and a bad methodology in raising children.
It is NOT about sleeping with their mothers as this so-called “study” would have us believe.
But I just don’t think so, Drew. I think there’s a whole bevy of reasons why those babies in certain zip codes seem to be dying and I don’t think sleeping with their mothers is the commonality.
Does anyone know the story of Waneta Hoyt? I reviewed the book on her on my Blog but here was a woman who lost something like EIGHT babies to SIDS.
Don’t hold me to that “8” number because I’m working from ageing memory here. But she had a whole bunch of babies die and in every case it was diagnosed as a SIDS death.
Only her babies didn’t die from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They died from.....MURDER. By the hand of Waneta Hoyt.
The authorities were so embarrassed that they let this woman get away with what was essentially cold-blooded murder that it got to be that every time Waneta lost a baby the investigators tended to cover for her that they do not look like the fools they were.
I think the high infant mortality rate in those zip codes is perhaps a case or two of SIDS, perhaps some babies just plain malnourished and undercared for, in some cases I suspect a dead baby was quickly put into a mama’s bed so she could claim death by inadvertant smothering.
I’ll never think those babies in selected zip codes died because of “bad sleep habits” because this reminds me of that bridge I’ve got for sale.
AND...I’ll go one step further, I think whoever is in charge of this “study” or whatever it might be called is guilty of the “Waneta Hoyt” syndrome...ie...having a bunch of dead babies and trying desperately to find a logical reason for it.
But being poor and unable to buy a separate crib? A drawer, a box.....come on....you don’t need a Tiffany bassenette to place a baby to sleep.
Look up Waneta Hoyt if you don’t believe me.