Baby Q & A 寶寶問題解答
 
 
Q: 我和我母親對趴睡有一些疑問. 我們大人都不見得覺得一夜都趴睡舒服, 將心比心, 也許寶寶也不覺得舒服. 何況寶寶還不能像我們一樣能輕易地變換姿勢. 所以是否等到寶寶能輕易地轉頭時再讓他趴睡? 另外, 趴睡會危險嗎? 為什麼每一家醫院都叫我們讓寶寶仰睡? A: 相信我, 如果妳讓寶寶趴睡, 他會很快能轉頭. 妳的寶寶因為仰睡, 有較弱的肌肉. 大部份我認識的嬰兒都覺得趴睡舒服. 我的小孩喜歡趴睡. 趴睡是一個自然的姿勢, 因為它可以讓寶寶學爬. 我想這是寶寶天生的. 我們大人覺得趴睡不舒服就像我們大人覺得爬不舒服一樣. 
到底該讓寶寶仰睡還是趴睡，這個問題有許多爭議。但我們必須知道，很多醫生或醫院並沒有自己針對這方面做過研究，只是參考相同的、有限的研究成果，所以我們必須自己研究一下這些原始資料。 我自己是個很好奇的人，看到這麼多人聲稱嬰兒趴睡很危險，卻沒有人能夠提出確實的原因。各式各樣的理論很多，但真正的原因仍未找到，比較負責任的結論大多會承認這個事實。其實只要還有少數比例的仰睡嬰兒會死於猝死症，我們就可以下結論說，仰睡不能真正解決嬰兒猝死症。 再舉另外一個例子, 在美國, 我讀到很多書上說餵寶寶吃蜂蜜很危險. 我問了我在美國的小兒科醫生, 他說事實上是有一個寶寶吃了沒蓋緊瓶蓋而污染的蜂蜜致病,而非蜂蜜本身有問題. 由此可知, 有時後一個錯誤的診斷可能會以訛傳訛. 這不是和以前醫院建議媽媽餵配方奶而非母奶一樣嗎? 當然我們對攸關生死的問題，必須謹慎看待，我無意勉強您，去做讓自己良心不安的事，父母必須為自己的決定負責，但我要鼓勵各位父母想把前後邏輯想清楚清楚之後，再自行決定怎麼做。如果你仔細思考之後，決定讓寶寶仰睡，我會對你說：「OK, 加油」。 Judy

Hi Judy, 我想妳說趴睡會鍛鍊寶寶的肌肉是對的. 今天下午, 我發現我的寶寶趴睡時能左右轉動他的頭. 若是他醒著時我讓他趴睡, 他會掙扎(因為他不能轉動他的頭). 但他卻能在睡夢中做到. 真是令人驚奇… (Q: Dear Judy, My mom and I have some concern on sleeping on the stomach. I do not like to sleep on my stomach all night. It is not very comfortable. It may be the same thing for him. I can turn to other position easily while he can not now. So, is it better that he try this position when he is able to easily turn his head or to other position? Lastly, whether it is dangerous to sleep on his stomach. Why does every hospital tell us to sleep babies on their backs? Jenny A: Dear Jenny, Believe me, if you put your baby on his stomach, he will very soon be able to turn his head. It is because he has slept on his back that he still has such weak muscles. Most infants I know have been very comfortable on their stomach. All my kids loved feeling the bed under their bodies. It is a very natural position because it is the perfect position for them to learn how to crawl. I think it's just the way babies are designed. For adults, it is very uncomfortable for us to lay on our stomachs just as it is uncomfortable for adults to crawl. As for your last point, just know this, every hospital does not do its own research. Instead, every hospital in the world gets its information from the same limited research. So the important thing for us to do is to try and research those original studies. I am very curious myself. For everybody telling people that sleeping babies on their stomachs is dangerous, no one has been able to quote the exact study or tell the exact reason why. Again, there are theories. But no exact cause has been stated. Most responsible conclusions will admit this fact. If there is even a small percentage of babies who died from SIDS who were also on their backs, then we'll know that sleeping babies on their backs is NOT the true solution. My husband is a biology major, and he is very interested in getting some of the original data. He keeps stating that “correlation does not mean causation.” To give another example, I read in a lot of books that it was dangerous to feed babies honey. This was in many different books in America. I asked my pediatrician about it and he told me that actually, they had later found out that it was an improperly closed honey jar which had gotten contaminated with bacteria and which had then infected one child. So it was not the honey, but a dirty honey jar. All this to say, sometimes a wrong diagnosis can be passed out and passed on. Remember there was a time when all the hospitals recommended moms to feed formula and not breastmilk? Of course, this is a conscience issue. You and your husband must make the decision yourself. I am not trying to force you to do something against your conscience. I am only stating what Dr. Denmark says and why we ourselves chose to let our babies sleep on their stomach. Do NOT do something you may feel uneasy about. As you can tell, I am passionate about this topic! Best wishes to you! And by the way, I have another reader who has been training her baby. Her baby began to sleep through the night after 3-4 weeks of training. Q: Dear Judy, I think you are right about getting baby's muscle stronger if he sleeps on his stomach. This afternoon, when he slept on his stomach, he was able to turn his head right and left. I was surprised, because if I put him on this position when he was awake, he would start feeling uncomfortable (because he was not able to move his head freely) and started to cry. But, he was able to do it when he was in sleep... amazing... Thanks, Jenny
 
嬰兒趴睡很危險嗎？