Hidden in Statistics

Since I've had children, I have repeatedly heard mothers demonized for letting their baby sleep in bed with mom. After a few months of insanity with child #1, I seriously thought I was coming down the post partum depression. The shrink said, "you're not depressed, you're sleep deprived."

I let my baby sleep with me. Nurse him every 2 hours by getting out of bed? When he would sometimes nurse for half an hour? Are you kidding me? No. Let Jr. sleep next to me: he nursed, I slept. This is not something which requires me to be awake. Of course, I'll probably be demonized for not looking adoringly on as my baby validated my womanhood and bonding with my child.

So - what do the statistics actually tell us?

Study says: Increased risk of crib death by 50%.

Oh, my god, get the baby out of the bed!!

But ... What are those risk factors?

Drinking and taking sedating drugs.

What if we only look at mothers who don't have those risk factors?

Wow - there is no increased risk of crib death.

How much is too much?

A colleague mentioned yesterday that his new boss, the new Safety VP, who is also an industrial hygenist, was displeased by the 7 entries on the OSHA log to date (1/1-7/8). For a manufacturing facility of over 4,000 people in 600,000 sq. ft. Yes, anything could be worse. "The fatality rate is currently 183.6 deaths per 100,000 workers: Five tower workers died during one 12-day span earlier this year alone. 18 tower workers died on the job in 2006." Statistics check: if the death rate is 184/100,000 , how is it that 18 died in one year? Does that mean there are really only 9804 employees in the whole country? Media just spew forth numbers that look cool, or inflamatory.