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James J MCKenna gästbloggar på Amningsbloggen!

Jag frågade James McKenna om han ville göra ett inlägg i debatten. Han har tidigare kritiserat de svenska barnläkarna för att okritiskt anamma och kopiera nordamerikanska sömnråd. Här har han skrivit ett blogginlägg exklusivt för Amningsbloggen.

I have studied the physiology and behavior of mother-infant breastfeeding and cosleeping in the laboratory and home settings (in the form of bedsharing) for over two decades, and studied its benefits and how and why it can be made dangerous, and how and why it can be made safe when a devoted breastfeeding mother, especially, is sleeping alongside her infant, in bed. I have published scores of research papers on the subject in journals such as Sleep, Pediatrics, Jour of Behavioral Medicine, Archives of Diseases in Children, Journal of Physiology, Amer. Journal of Physical Anthropology and many others. Moreover, I was inducted recently into the American Association for the Advancement of Science as a Fellow, an honor reserved for America's top scientists with whom I am grateful to be associated. Therefore, I was was not surprised when Drs. Blair and Flemings' highly careful epidemiological study showed conclusively that alcohol, tobacco and drugs, and not cosleeping per se is responsible for the disproportionate number of infant deaths reported as SIDS or SUDI.

It is too bad that Dr. Hugo Langercrantz has misrepresented what the authors research, recommendations and what their conclusion actually is: Drs Blair and Fleming argue NOT to eliminate cosleeping at all (they support it when done safely) but to eliminate the specific risks that can be associated with cosleeping in the form of bedsharing which are subject to modification. And where cosleeping cannot be made safe, of course, like all of us, they argue that babies should sleep along side the parents on a different surface and not in the bed which is perfectly legitimate form of cosleeping. Drs. Blair and Fleming show conclusively that when you control for tobacco, alcohol and drug use the risks of a baby dying in bed with a parent are no greater than a baby dying in a crib. I have had personal contact with Dr. Peter Fleming who verified this interpretation, indeed they were the very words out of his mouth.

I hope that people/parents will stand up to refute and disagree Langercrantz's unqualified statements... and tell him he is entitled to raise his children anyway he wants while parents are quite capable of deciding for themselves where and how their babies will sleep or whether they are able to create safe cosleeping environments for their children. Babies should never sleep alone. At very least they should be sleeping alongside their parent on a different surface (that is not sleeping alone) exchanging sensory signals and cues with ttehir parents. The human infants survival is dependent on the presence of the caregiver. Babies that sleep alone in a room by themselves have twice the chance of dying. Did Dr. Langercrantz mention this important point? For breastfeeding mothers it is especially important that mothers and infants they have access to their baby's body and vice versa as it promotes breastfeeding (which is protective against SIDS) and, thus, both short and long term maternal infant health. It is especially disappointing and surprising in light of his excellent work in psychobiology that Dr. Langercrantz is able to turn his back on the biology of human infancy and maternal care and breastfeeding..to argue a recommendation that not only is unnecessarily extreme, but highly impractical and unrealistic..for those very biological and emotional reasons that Langercrantz has always championed.

James J. McKenna Ph.D
Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Chair in Anthropology
Director, Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

Läs mer om James McKenna här

Ett längre blogginlägg finns här.

Fotnot: Hugo Lagercrantz har erbjudits att svara på kritiken.

TILLÄGG 30/10: Hugo Lagercrantz har hört av sig och berättat att det kommer en artikel i Läkartidningen.

/Marit Olanders