Dr. John Kattwinkel
The head of the U.S. SIDS Task Force for the last 17 years has been Dr. John Kattwinkel. He is the person who had U.S. moms switch from putting their babies to sleep on their stomachs/sides (90% of moms did this in 1992) to putting them on their backs (75% of moms in 2006). I was just wondering if anyone here knew that he had a child died suddenly at 3 days of age in 1966 and was wondering if being a mom that could cause you to be biased when looking at research? I was just looking for a moms perspective because when I do research it seems a lot of negative things are associated with the back sleep position and Dr. Kattwinkel uses the bully pulpet to bury them or dismiss them. I've listed a few quotes below as bacground information. Thank you for any help or insight you could offer me on this and I apologize for writing such a long comment.
Does anyone think he could be biased?
"Why should she be a beautiful, healthy-looking girl and be dead two days later?"
Dr. John Kattwinkel on the death of his 3 day old baby daughter in 1966
"The Academy was looking for someone who didn't have an agenda. So they chose me."
Dr. John Kattwinkel on being chosen to head the 1992 American Academy on Pediatrics Task Force on SIDS Prevention
“There are indications of a rapidly growing population of infants who show developmental abnormalities as a result of prolonged exposure to the supine position.”
Dr. Ralph Pelligra (Chief Medical Officer - NASA) regarding the impact of the Back to Sleep Campaign
“Since the implementation of the "Back to Sleep" campaign, therapists are seeing increasing numbers of kindergarten-aged children who are unable to hold a pencil.”
Susan Syron, Pediatric Physical Therapist
“I do not think it is a medical problem - it is more of a cosmetic one. Mothers may feel it is a syndrome and a problem when it really is nonsense.”
Dr. Peter Fleming, back sleep advocate, on his view of deformational plagiocephaly
“The potential implications of a SIDS risk-reduction strategy that is based on a combination of maintaining a low arousal threshold and reducing quiet (slow-wave sleep) in infants must be considered. Because slow-wave sleep is considered the most restorative form of sleep and is believed to have a significant role in neurocognitive processes and learning, as well as in growth, what might be the neurodevelopmental consequences of chronically reducing deep sleep in the first critical 12 months of life”?
Pelayo, et al. letter to the editor regarding 2006 SIDS Task Force Recommendations
"Federal records show a dramatic decline in reported cases of SIDS, dropping from 4,895 cases in 1992 to only 2,247 in 2004, the most recent year for which complete data is available. The records reviewed by Scripps showed that cases of SIDS virtually disappeared in some states and cities over the last several years, but closer examination of the data makes it evident that thousands of those lives have not been ‘saved,’ but rather lost under another name. Coroners and medical examiners said SIDS was responsible for nearly 80 percent of all sudden infant deaths 15 years ago and only 55 percent in 2004. What increased during this time were diagnoses that CDC statisticians labeled as "threats to breathing" and ‘other ill-defined causes of mortality.’"
Bowman and Hargrove, Scripps Howard News Service
Thank you for any help or assistance in this matter.
Tom
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2 Answers
I'm not sure where you're going with this, but it does seem like it would be hard to be unbiased on the subject of infant sleep safety if your own infant child died during sleep. I also sense and can somewhat relate to your skepticism about SIDS and the advice that kids sleep on their backs. Two things colored my decision to go ahead and put my baby to sleep on her back even though I felt the evidence for doing so was anectodal at best. One: I did read that SIDS deaths had decreased since they started making the recommendation. Two: a good friend told me her parents lost their first child to SIDS. These are extremely well-educated, very loving parents who ended up raising 4 amazing girls, and they lost their first child before the back sleeping thing. So I thought, clearly these were not people who were neglecting their child (the baby even slept in the room with them), so maybe there's something to it. I've recently read that SIDS may actually be genetic. There's just so little known. I am of the belief that any precaution we can take can be helpful, but we can go too far. Parents feel so much guilt if their baby rolls over on his/her side, for instance. And we deprive our babies of blankets long past the recommended age because we're so worried.
Patti
SAHM in SoCal and administrator of the Sleep Forum group, http://www.mothersclick.com/group/sleep-forum
Patti
SAHM in SoCal and administrator of the Sleep Forum group, http://www.mothersclick.com/group/sleep-forum and Tri-Counties Moms, http://www.mothersclick.com/moms-club/tri-counties-moms-sb-ventura-slo-c...
Thanks for questioning the whole back sleeping thing. I feel like it has been way way overblown. My babies have all been belly sleepers. It seems almost to me as if the campaign for back sleeping has turned into fear mongering propaganda. I absolutely recognize that there has been a reduction of SIDS cases since the campaign began, but I feel like I have had to be secretive about putting my babies on their bellies for fear of a verbal lashing from doctors, friends and acquaintances. Generations of babies were put on their bellies and lived to tell about it. I almost feel like some moms think that there babies might die from being put on their bellies. I've even read articles that warn to never leave a baby on their belly alone in a room-thats ridiculous! I personally call it the "scared back to sleep campaign."