Hide Article Text (OCR)
ilDS: UCI scientists are probing possible role of evolutionOM 1Finding the cause or causes, ime researchers say, requires )ing beyond the traditional mnds of medicine to the way lildren are raised.Next month, CHOC will host aDS conference that examines e nexus between culture and edicine.“SIDS is not one disease, so ere’s not going to be one an-irer,” Anas said. “The purpose this conference is to look at the edical and anthropological as-icts of SIDS. We need to be talk-g to each other a little bit more i where we interact.” Scientists at the University of alifornia, Irvine, are conduct-g unique research on the rolerotation plays in infant sleeping ‘actices and their possible linkSIDS.The research, said anthropolo-st James McKenna, looks at hether infants who sleep with eir mothers pick up lessons on iw to breathe and wake themselves.“Child-care practices have proven to be the single most important factor in SIDS research,” said McKenna, who also is a professor of anthropology at Pomona College in Claremont.Cultural practices such as having babies sleep in their own room away from the parents, he said, may be at odds with babies’ biological needs.Researchers worldwide have ferreted out only bits of information to help parents and doctors identify practices that may put babies at risk. The single most important discovery: Numerous studies have shown that placing babies on their backs or sides to sleep has greatly reduced the number of SIDS deaths.Doctors note, however, that babies can die even when sleeping in those positions. And there is no way to predict which infants will be affected.Anthropologist McKenna, whowill speak at the CHOC conference next month, said preliminary findings of the sleep research he is conducting with his colleagues, Drs. Sarah Mosko and Chris Richards, show that there may be benefits for infants who sleep with their mothers.Sleeping with a new baby, McKenna theorizes, helps the baby’s nervous system navigate between sleeping and waking. When the baby sleeps alone, he sleeps at a much deeper level of sleep than when he’s sleeping with his mother.“Co-sleeping,” as McKenna calls it, exposes the baby to his mother’s frequent checks, dis- d turbances that wake the baby more frequently. The more often a baby is v aroused from deep sleep, he said, the more opportunities the baby has to practice waking up.He also cited animal studies that show that the carbon dioxide in a mother’s exhaled breath could help regulate the breathingin the baby sleeping next to her.McKenna bases his theory on evolution. Until some Western cultures began outlawing co-sleeping between parents and children starting in the 16th century, mothers had slept with their babies for centuries.The practice changed, he said, to prevent infanticide by poor families who would suffocate their infants and say they accidentally rolled over on them during sleep. In parts of Paris, London and Germany during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, some parents used suffocation as a means of controlling the size of their families if a second baby was born too soon after one that was still nursing, McKenna said in one of his research papers.The Catholic Church in the 17th century advocated separate sleeping arrangements to prevent incest, and more people embraced this practice.Some people have criticized McKenna’s theories, saying thatrrKvHELP AVAILABLE: CONFERENCE, SUPPORT GROUPS-STlt;rk'rChildren's Hospital of Orange County is hosting a conference on i, SIDS from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at the hospital's Wade Educa-*-tion Center. The conference will provide an update on SIDS re- *£.v.»search and education, and perspectives from paramedics, social workers and parents who have lost children to SIDS. j *Cost of the conference is $45 before Feb. 10; $65 afterward. For; ► information, call CHOC's department of education at (714) 532-8680.For more information on preventing SIDS, call (800) 505-CRIB, or; * write to Back to Sleep, P.O. Box 29111, Washington, D.C. 20040. ? *The National SIDS Alliance offers information via a free hot line.* ICall (800) 221-SIDS. The California SIDS Program has information on support groups for parents dealing with grief. It also has training ' J information for child-care providers, emergency personnel and any,-];one else who deals with infants. For information, call (800) 369-SIDS.ttt-- Sources: CHOC; U.S. Public Health Service; American Academy of Pediat*rics; Penny Stastny, SIDS program coordinator for Orange County!:,- 4 •Vjust because something appears to be natural behavior doesn’t mean it’s better.McKenna said he and his colleagues are still a year away from making any pronouncements about co-sleeping and cau-$tioned that even if it proves bene ficial, it may carry caveats/*Keeping babies off their stomachs when they sleep is still ^ic best preventive tool that doctors can recommend.
Newspaper Details
Santa Ana Orange County Register
Santa Ana, California, US
Mon, Jan 30, 1995
Page 74
Full Page
Clipped by
Public L.
OH, USA 24 May 2021
Other Publications Near Santa Ana, California
Santa Ana Pacific Weekly Blade
Santa Ana Excelsior
Santa Ana News
Santa Ana Evening Blade
Santa Ana Orange County Register Evening
