On Tue, 15 Feb 2000, Jean Edwards wrote:
>
> This must be my semester for the weird stuff. Today, in relation
> to the brain and the breathing reflex, a couple of students
> informed me that babies "forget" to breathe. I mentioned SIDS..
> nope that wasn't it. I mentioned sleep apnea.. nope, not that
> either. Their pediatricians advised them that babies forget to
> breathe...that's the most I could get from them. I told them that
> my understanding is that breathing is reflexive in nature and gave
> an example of children who threaten to "hold their breath till
> they die." Even if they pass out, the breathing reflex kicks in.
> If I'm wrong, uninformed, etc., I would sure like to know as I
> have nothing in my files regarding this.
I agree with those who said that the pediatrician was probably just
trying to explain apnea without using the word. But the real news is
that apnea in babies is a crock. Despite years of research no one was
ever able to show a link between babies who showed alleged periods of
apnea ("near-miss babies") and crib death. Periods of irregular
breathing are common in babies, and carry no risk. Nevertheless, many
thousands of apnea monitors were sold with no effect whatsoever on the
SIDS death rate. This was not a harmless misconception. Parents were
scared silly that their baby might just "forget to breath" and die.
I was one of those who spent much time just watching my babies
breath when when they were little. In the meantime, what turned out to
be a simple but dramatically effective treatment was ignored: just put
the baby to sleep on her back.
The famous paper of Alfred Steinschneider that started the whole sorry
apnea mess has long since been discredited, the editor of Pediatrics
has apologized for publishing it, and the murderer that his "research"
protected for 20 years is now in prison. The definitive account is
_The Death of Innocents_ by Firstman and Talan. Their subtitle says it
all: "A true story of murder, medicine, and high stakes science". It
would make an amazing film.
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lennoxville, QC
J1M 1Z7
Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
Check out TIPS listserv for teachers of psychology at:
http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips/
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