No parent wants to bury a child. No parent should have to. But for couple Trevor Merrill and Echo Nielsen, that nightmare has happened not once, but twice.

Their first child died in 2003, but now, after their second baby, 3-month-old Kayson, died in 2006, the couple has been fighting charges of "child abuse homicide" and "reckless endangerment." The Utah Court of Appeals has refused to dismiss these charges. The couple has been accused of murdering their baby while sleeping with his parents in their bed -- the same place their first child died as well.

The thing is, even in the brief description of the case I can find, there's plenty of other potential factors at fault here, especially when they can't prove it was co-sleeping.

When my first child was an infant, sleep did not always come easily for him (or, as a result, for me or my husband). Some nights our son would conk out on his own and stay asleep through the night (though I'd still wake up to check on him). Other nights, it didn't matter what we tried, our baby wouldn't go to sleep until he was good and ready, and it was impossible to predict when (and how) that time would come.

Many people suggested that we let our son "cry it out" in his crib. "Have you tried 'Ferberizing' him?" they'd say, referring to the methods of Dr. Richard Ferber, a pediatrician who recommends parents let children fall asleep by themselves at bedtime -- even if that means allowing them to cry for extended periods of time -- in order to train them to be self-sufficient. "Ferberizing," such an ugly term. Machine-like. Cold.

Please don't wake up, please don't wake upIt's been a little while since I had a baby who was so sensitive to noise that he woke up every time our neighbor coughed. Yet reading How to Be a Dad's post/rant against leaf blowers and motorcyclists brought it all back. I remember confronting a worker at the nursing home across the street from my apartment building as I saw him getting into his car the next morning. The same car that blasted music so loud, it woke up my entire household as he sat in his parking space grooving before he started his graveyard shift. Needless to say, a new mom who hasn't slept can go cr-a-zy on a stranger in the street without even thinking about her personal safety. 

But it's not just the big things, like smooth R&B at volume 11 on a jacked up stereo system, that can wake up those little bundles of joy. I've discovered an entire cache of baby waking noises that are incredibly annoying and destructive.

When I first heard about Susan Powell, the Utah mother who went missing almost two years ago, the first thing I thought about were her two young boys. Her youngest son was only 2 years old when she first disappeared! 

Losing your mother would be traumatic for any child, but I think it might be especially damaging for a toddler. The boys have been separated from their father, too, as of September. But the boys are living with their grandparents now, and the grandparents are doing something extremely important to help the boys cope: they're keeping regular routines.

Yesterday I read about a provocative ad made by the Milwaukee Health Department, which warns parents about the dangers of sleeping with babies. I didn’t actually read the article myself, but I saw the ad, and so I can understand some why people would be so upset about these ads.

First of all, Milwaukee, babies aren't as dangerous as cleavers. I’m not even sure why I’m having to clarify this. I’ve almost never cut myself on a sleeping baby. No one murders co-eds with sleeping babies. Sleeping babies aren't even sharp. This is just ridiculous and it’s ludicrous to imply otherwise. If I was a baby, I would probably sue.

Co-sleeping is a topic near and dear to my heart. It's been a great thing for my family, with both children easily and lovingly moved out of our bed long before the "having to break the habit in the middle school years" myth that naysayers warn you about. Well, I'm sure there are some people with older kids in their bed, but generally speaking, it's not a big deal, and with a couple simple precautions, it can be a fantastic, bonding family decision.

So imagine my shock and fury when I saw Milwaukee's new anti-co-sleeping poster that says that co-sleeping is incredibly negligent and deadly. Butcher knife included.

There's nothing like a cross-country trip that includes airplanes, taxis, subways, and train rides to bring out the best in a toddler. In fact, I'm pretty sure everyone in the tri-state area thinks my toddler is the greatest kid who has ever lived. Unless my "annoying toddler" radar is way off, which it obviously is.

I mean, yelling and gesturing at a completely packed Manhattan-bound F train, "Everybody get out of my way!" is pretty cute. To me, but totally not to anyone else. So that might go in the negative column if you're, say, the hipster he's directing his toddler rage at ... and dramatically.

No matter how adorable I believe my little boy is, some of you are just not going to agree. But here are a few things we will agree on when it comes to the most annoying things that kid does.

Whether you're one of those parents who has been dreading the shift from Daylight Savings Time for weeks or you're the type who has completely forgotten when it's supposed to happen, take note: The witching hour is this weekend.

Daylight Savings 2011 ends on Sunday, November 6. At 2 a.m., you move your clock back one hour.

For a lot of parents, those semi-annual clock shifts can be brutal. It can take a while for kids' natural circadian rhythms to adjust. That means that if you have a kid who normally wakes up, say, around 6:30 a.m., now you have a kid who might be yanking at your sleeve and rousing you from your pillow at 5:30 a.m. Ugh. Plus, at the other end of the day, kids may be exhausted -- and ill behaved -- because their normal bedtime feels an hour later to them. Double ugh.

What can you do to alleviate some of the time change's effects on your kids? Ashley Grimaldo, who blogs about money and offers advice for frugal-minded parents, has shared a few tips: