Reply to Fisher-Price says 10 infants have died using Rock 'n Play sleeper

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous] I think putting something under one end of the crib or bassinnett to elevate it-such as blocks-would be much safer than sleeping in the rock n play.

10 infant deaths in barely 4 years, sounds like a dangerous product. I did not buy one for my dd, I'm not taking the risk.[/quote]

NP.  We tried that.  Even as a newborn, DD would wiggle around so much that she would roll right down the inclined mattress.  We were so absolutely exhausted from having to hold her to sleep all night that her pediatrician took one look at me and recommended a rock n play, just to get us through the early stages of reflux.  He stated that, while the official recommendation is that flat on the back in the crib is best, some newborn babies just don’t tolerate that well.  We transitioned her back to the crib once we saw an improvement in her reflux, around 3mo.  LONG before she started to roll over.  
Used correctly (that’s the important part), I don’t see this as any more dangerous than having an exhausted, sleep deprived parent.  We were far more of a risk to her running on little to no sleep, especially once I went back to work at 6 weeks.[/quote]

+1000   There seem to be a lot of "experts" on reflux here, who I'm pretty certain have not had to care for a newborn with it.  And not the "happy spitter" variety where the baby barfs a lot, but doesn't seem to be bothered or in pain - I mean the kind where the baby has serious pain/discomfort when laid flat.

My first had a horrible case of reflux, and the R&P was a life saver - particularly before the pediatrician finally took us seriously about the reflux.  (Frankly, I think doctors are so annoyed by any parent who uses Google -- especially new first-time parents -- that they stop listening and start lecturing about how some babies just cry more for no reason.  Ours finally saw us shortly after a feeding and saw what we'd been talking about.  Took him about 5 seconds after walking in the exam room and seeing my son arch his back and scream hysterically in pain for him to say (kind of sheepishly) "Oh. Yeah, that's definitely reflux. I'll write a script for Zantac.")  Tried various other methods of putting him on an incline, but R&P was the only thing that worked those first few months.  We did try elevating one end of the crib again once he improved on the Zantac - it wasn't perfect, but by then it was good enough for all of us to get some sleep, so we moved him there.  To be honest, I was worried more about positional asphyxia (like, the same reason you don't let your kid sleep in the car seat) with the Rock and Play, not rolling over - probably because I was strapping him in.

Our second child didn't have reflux, and slept flat in the hospital isolette and then a Halo bassinet at home just fine.  I took out the R&P just once to help him get some sleep during a really bad ear infection.  I think he was about 10 weeks old - and I definitely strapped him in, because I remember I was annoyed dealing with them in the middle of the night and looking forward to going back to the Halo and no straps!

Look, flat on the back is ideal for safety, and in most cases is absolutely the right choice.  It wasn't something I thought I'd try before I needed it - especially since baby #1 was a "rainbow baby" after years of infertility and the second trimester loss of his sister, and I was trying to do EVERYTHING right.   But I'm still eternally grateful to the R&P for getting us through what then seemed like the longest 10-12 weeks of my life, restoring my sanity and giving my son some relief from what looked to me like pretty excruciating pain before we got him on the Zantac.   Newborn #2 was not a great sleeper nor a particularly easy baby, but compared to what I went through with his brother, my second maternity leave was like a 12-week spa vacation.  [/quote]

18:16 PP here.  Yes, we had a similar experience with diagnosis.  Listening to my newborn baby girl scream herself hoarse from pain every time we laid her flat on her back is something I’ll never forget.  This was night and day difference from the “happy spitter” form of reflux that I had seen in my niece.  I was dealing with bad PPA at the time, too, and I was so torn between doing the right thing with “back is best” and knowing she was in agony every time I laid her down.  Our pediatrician’s reassurance was a godsend to me, but we were still very vigilant with the Rock n Play.[/quote]

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