So I went to my daughter's childbirth class...

[me&thegals]

I think when a person posts strong opinions on a forum, he/she is welcoming other people's comments...

 

[Beekissed]

And sometimes I think she is just venting to her friends with whom she feels safe in doing so!

 

[patandchickens]

The mere drop in the percentages of SIDs related deaths doesn't prove conclusively that this particular methodology is the sole reason

Well of COURSE not

But it's not chopped liver either.

Our astonishment has nothing to do with the fact that our "old ways" are now "negated".

OK, then what are you being astonished about?

FWIW, my mother (age 82) says that a lot of the things that are now being recommended as best practice are back to what was considered normal when she was a kid. (I do not remember whether putting the baby on their back is one of them.) So when you say "I'm not willing to throw out generations of common sense knowledge", WHICH generations' common sense knowledge are you not throwing out?

It is a big complicated world and your particular family's or generation's or culture's successful childrearing traditions are not the only ones. Maybe not even the best.

Anyhow, in large part ALL generations' beliefs are based on data (i.e. observation of what happens in the world) and theory (i.e. commonsense-sounding explanations of how things seem to, or ought to, work). Data and theory are not at all unique to the medical profession, they are something that ALL of us deal with every moment of our lives, we just don't usually use those particular words for it.

If this was "just a vent" and no conversation on the subject was wished, then I sure wish it had been labelled as such -- I thought that this was primarily a discussion forum. If I missed some invisible "vent only, do not comment please" sign then I apologize.

Pat