Sleeping with Your Baby

Co-sleeping, or sleeping with your baby in your bed, is not a new phenomenon. Co-sleeping was actually widespread up until the 19th century and the advent of the idea that a baby needed to be in her own room in a crib. Many cultures outside of the US still sleep with their babies. And, co-sleeping is seeing a resurgence here in America.

Many parents have found that co-sleeping makes life easier for everyone, not to mention the bond it helps to foster between parents and child. For breastfeeding mothers, co-sleeping makes night feeding much easier. The baby is right there in bed with you, and you can don’t even have to get up to nurse. If your baby is in a crib however, you must get out of bed each time your baby cries at night, feed her, get her back to sleep, and then get back in bed yourself.

With our first son, we weren’t really sure about co-sleeping. We had read about the benefits but were still nervous to sleep with him as a newborn. But then, he got sick. I was so tired, I just brought him to bed with us. He too needed the closeness that co-sleeping provides. This closeness is beneficial for any baby, but when my little guy became ill, it was even more important. Once we brought him to bed with us, we never looked back. It was so much easier for my husband and me to parent at night with our baby in our bed, and my husband also loved the extra special time he got snuggling up with our son while we all slept.

With our second son, we were ready to co-sleep from the beginning. But, we were still a bit nervous about how big we were compared to how tiny our new little baby was. We found out that there are products on the market that we could use to help protect the baby from us, while still allowing him to be right there in our bed. Now not everyone feels the need for these types of products. Co-sleeping without any extra supports has been shown to be a very safe option.

The safety of co-sleeping has been proven time and again at the Mother Baby Behavioral Sleep Lab at the University of Notre Dame. Here, Dr James McKenna PhD. studies mothers and babies, their sleep patterns and how they sleep together. He has found mothers to actually be in tune with their babies during all cycles of sleep.

It is important to note however, that co-sleeping should be done in a safe environment. This means with sober parents on a firm mattress with a tight fitting headboard. It is also important that both adults in the bed agree to the co-sleeping arrangement and agree to be responsible for the welfare of the baby.

Co-sleeping has so many benefits it is worth at least exploring as an option for you and your baby. There’s nothing like waking up in a family bed!