Book Review On Bringing Up Bebe

I’ve been thinking about sleep ever since reading Maria Konnikova’s fascinating, three-part series for The New Yorker on sleep. And then my wife, Crystal, read the series, which got us both thinking about it, and talking about it, and experimenting with it.

Lack of sleep affects children's relationships with others as sleep makes a difference to behaviours and control of emotions.

Infant co-sleeping is a highly controversial topic of debate in our society. There are many valid reasons as to why infant co-sleeping is an appropriate practice based upon many different things, some to include research, culture and personal opinion. And there are just as many reasons to recede that claim and support that co-sleeping is detrimental to the health and well-being of an infant. Before the following research, as outlined in this paper, my personal opinion was based on the fact that I practiced co-sleeping with my son many years ago, back when co-sleeping was not such an issue. I felt comfortable with co-sleeping and supported co-sleeping. The reasoning behind this could have been the age factor as a teen mother, my cultural beliefs and also the comfort of knowing my child was close and I could access him easily if needed. As I learned more about co-sleeping and began my work in the field of ECE, I was encouraged to support the “Back to Sleep” movement and to share the cons of co-sleeping with the families I worked with based upon the beliefs of my employer. The following articles will highlight the many pros and cons of infant co-sleeping

Explain why it is important that babies and infants sleep as they need, rather than setting a specific ‘sleep time’.

In 1997, anthropologist James Mckenna and his colleagues conducted a study in a sleep laboratory at the University of California's Irvine School of Medicine. The study was to observed thirty-five nursing mother- infant pair sleeping together as well as apart for three consecutive nights. The infants were between eleven to fifteen weeks old. Twenty of the infants had been co sleeping since birth and the other fifteen had been independent sleepers. To observe they used many tools such as polygraph to record mother and infants heart rate, breathing rhythms, body temperature, the nursing cycles and even monitored their brain waves all of this along with watching their test subjects simultaneously on an infrared video monitor. What they found was quite unique, the infant and mother were highly responsive to each other and their movements. The infant and mother changed position of sleeping to face each other. They wake more frequently to nurse, and about twice as much as an independent sleeper and nurse three times longer but still get more sleep co sleeping than independent sleepers,

Everyone, at some point in life, has experienced the terror of waking up from a disconcerting dream and longing for the comfort that only a mother can provide. Imagine there is an infant, new to the world and confused about everything around him, and how this child must feel when awakening with this uneasy feeling. Who knows how long it could take for the child’s mother to wake and come to his aid and how long that will feel to the newborn. Now imagine that the baby is right next to his mother, and just as he begins to stir, this warm familiar hand brings solace and familiarity with just a slight touch, quieting the child before there is any disturbance. This situation is one of the many positive ways that co-sleeping can affect a family. Co-sleeping is a hypernym of sleeping arrangements defined by Wendy Goldberg as “the presence of a caregiver who sleeps within close enough proximity of the infant to permit the exchange of at least two sensory stimuli” (par. 8). Goldberg is a psychology professor at the University of California, with specializations in infant sleep and transition into parenthood, among other things. While the medical community is at odds on the topic of co-sleeping, both sides acknowledge the risks and benefits of the other; however, the belief that co-sleeping is the superior arrangement for both baby and parent definitely has more corroborative evidence than the inadequate data used in advocating for solitary sleeping.

The goal of this essay is to look at the pros and cons of co-sleeping through the analysis of the benefits for both the baby and the parents, the evolutionary argument, and the risks and downfalls associated with the practice. Co-sleeping offers health benefits through additional breast milk intake, an improved attachment bond, and improving a child’s ability to fall asleep. However, the negatives include many risks, most of which can be avoided with proper care, but which put an infant in danger of SIDS. These can take the forms of suffocation factors, environmental hazards, and the lesser problem of sleep-dependency. I take the position that co-sleeping is healthy and natural, and that I would rather see it encouraged and not discouraged, but I also recognize that there are a variety of risks involved with the process.

“Twenty years ago we had very little direct experience. We've found that youngsters sleep very well in a variety of situations, as seen around the world. From a sleep perspective, we have little evidence for or against any of these arrangements. We like to know families have plans

The neonatal or special care nursery environment is one of variable but constant movement, light and noise. Such an environment is not conducive to the entrainment of good sleep habits. Discuss the impact this environment has on preterm infants in terms of their neuropsychological development and sleep patterns. Consider the longer term implications, and the measures that can be taken to minimise or overcome these.

Infants get habituated to things that were once neutral stimulus with just months old. But even more, the longer a child is exposed to a stimulus the more it would get conditioned to the stimulus, (Shaffer & Kipp, 2010). Despite of all these controversies, I argue and sustain that co-sleeping should not be discouraged. Now co-sleeping and bed sharing is not the same thing. A child can sleep in the same room as parents without sharing the same bed, (McKenna & McDade, 2005). I consider that if parents want to share the same room with their children after they have more than one year of age it should be their decision, but never discouraged by

Some mom's might think she got off easy by missing out on the pain of giving birth, but sleeping her way through labor was not her part of her plan.

Our great-sleep mission extends to sleepers of all ages. Support your child as their bodies grow with our quality mattresses specially designed for little ones….

The nature of having both a 3 year old, with the normal disturbed sleep patterns of an infant/toddler, seeking to sleep with parents and often waking during the night in

     Finally, sleep is lost and never will be regained. During the first year of a baby’s life, parents, especially mothers, lose 700 or more hours of sleep. That is a lot. No wonder parents look like a walking zombie. When babies do sleep through the night, parents still wake up to check on them to make sure that they are comfortable and everything is all right. Unfortunately, babies aren’t the only cause for loss of sleep. Teenagers are to. They go out and stay

Sleep disorders alter ones sleep pattern and often results in the inability to either sleep or sleep soundly. They often cause you to feel restless, tired, fatigued, and irritable. It is estimated that nearly 75 percent of adult Americans experience sleep disorder symptoms at least a few nights per week. At the same time, sleep disturbances in some form are seen in as many as 25 to 30 percent of infants and children (“Sleep Disorders” 2013). Clearly a huge conundrum in the world, sleep disorders affect an inordinate amount of people. Millions of people suffer or have suffered from a sleep disorder at one point in their lives and if mistreated can impact organ systems functioning negatively. Physical disturbances, medical issues,