Sleeping with your baby

Co-sleeping or bed sharing with your baby promotes breastfeeding and bonding between mother and child. Co-sleeping is not a new concept and it is still a very common practise in many countries. In most non-western cultures co-sleeping is extended well over two years old and usually until the child decides to sleep on its own.

It has been proven that the sleep patterns and health in mothers and babies that co-sleep together are connected in beneficial ways.

Among the benefits of co-sleeping we can include.

-Babies breastfeed more and sleep more (not only beneficial for the baby but also for the mum)
-Babies cry less, suffer from less stress levels
-More breastfeeding, means healthier babies, that receive more antibodies and build stronger immune systems that help them fight disease.
-Allows immediate response from parents (emotionally and physiologically) due to closeness in case the baby cries, is cold, his blanket covers his head etc

Although there are so many advocates for babies to sleep alone, the benefits of leaving the baby to sleep alone have not been demonstrated. What is more, recent studies are actually proving that the opposite is true. Research shows that children who co-sleep are more independent, self-confident, self-steem and display a better behaviour (calmer children) than those left to sleep alone.

By nature children were designed to co-sleep next to his mother, where the infant feels protected and warm, and receives the breast milk on demand (as needed), exactly as it is expected by nature.

Research shows that co-sleeping if done properly is safer than leaving your baby alone. Japan, where co-sleeping is normal, is among the countries with the lowest SIDS rates in the world.

More and more studies are showing that mum and baby’s separation has detrimental consequences. The practice in Western countries to separate children that still need psychologically and physiologically the closeness of their parents should be carefully considered. Their emotional and physical needs have been naturally connected to their mother’s for thousands of years.

Two excellent books on the subject are: