If you never check my blog, I really hope you happen to check it soon and read this.  A girl who went to my high school, and graduated with Shelby, lost her 3 month old daughter yesterday after she apparently rolled over on her while they were sleeping.  I can't even begin to imagine surviving such a tragedy.  How does one even put one foot in front of the other after something like that?

Like so many terrible things, this is something we all hear about, but think, "it would never happen to me.  I sleep so lightly with the baby in the bed.  I would wake up or I would know."  It doesn't just happen to careless parents who don't know better.  It can happen to anyone, anywhere. 

There is so much information out "there" warning of the hazards of co-sleeping and unsafe sleep conditions for babies, but, because of the "it could never happen to me" mentality, the numbers of these deaths are still rising.  I am linking this 2011 article from Greenville because it really shows that, again, this can and does happen everywhere and to anyone.  click to read 
I also learned that there have been 8 infant deaths in Anderson County this year alone; 6 died in their parents' bed.

I am not writing this post from a soap box or a self righteous, judgemental, or insensitive place.  It's coming from a mother who understands how tempting it can be to sleep with our babies because of the incredible bonding it offers and how convenient it can be, especially for breastfeeding mothers or mothers of babies who aren't great sleepers.  But as lightly as we may think we sleep with them in the bed, we all know how unbelievably tired we are when our babies are young, which makes it even more dangerous to sleep with them in the bed. 
What happened to the girl from home and her daugher was a terrible, unimaginable accident, and I pray that God brings her and her family peace during this time.

I hope we can all help prevent these and other, similar, preventable accidents by raising awareness of the dangers of unsafe sleep conditions for babies.