A bizarre tragedy happened on November 24th at 33,000-feet aboard a United Airlines flight headed for Kuwait from Washington. A mother was breast-feeding her baby and fell asleep, inadvertently suffocating the child to death. When the mother awoke and realized what had happened, the airplane was consumed with her screams of agony. Attempts at resuscitation by an on-board doctor were unsuccessful.
The Association of Breastfeeding Mothers said: ‘Sitting up in bed while holding your baby is very dangerous, especially if you fall asleep.’
n 2004, Briton Lisa Briggs smothered her baby as they slept less than three years after losing another child to a similar tragedy.
Miss Briggs, 23, fell asleep while feeding five-week-old Keitha and woke in the morning to find her lifeless by her side.
Miss Briggs had lost her four-week-old daughter Cerese in identical circumstances.
However the Royal College of Midwives said in 2006 there are some benefits for breastfeeding mothers to share a bed with their babies, and a blanket message advising them not to do it could be counter-productive.
Melanie Every, a regional manager for the Royal College, said: ‘We know that there are many, many cultures and many, many women who will continue to share beds with their babies, even when they are advised not to do it.
‘Now, knowing that, it’s important to give them advice on the safest possible way of doing it, rather than just saying don’t do it.’
