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. Many of the benefits of co-sleeping stem from the interactions that can readily happen within the open, close proximity environment co-sleeping enables. One of these benefits is breast feeding, which can influence many other aspects of infant health and behavior. Breast feeding is much easier to perform when co-sleeping, as the infant is nearer to the parent and the position already accommodates for mother and baby’s comfort. Breast feeding and co-sleeping a cyclical relationship, as each promotes the other. A mother that co-sleeps will find herself breast sleeping more throughout the night and this nightly breast feeding will facilitate more co-sleeping
States in 1991, in an effort to inform parents that they should place their infant on their back when sleeping. Many parents, mainly among minority families, are still unaware of this prevention step. Other preventive measures include: breast feeding, not smoking during and after pregnancies, and parents should not to sleep with their infants.
Some parents of infants think co-sleeping is beneficial, however; experts do believe that this practice is very dangerous. Every parent has the decision to co-sleep (sharing a bed with your baby), its weather they do or not that counts. There are reasons parents decide for or against, for example; if you’re a heavy sleeper, you might accidently roll over and suffocate your child. You might not realize that something like could happen, but it can. “Most parents just figure it will be easier for them, it’s not like every parent of a newborn is going to spend hours re-searching reasons not to co-sleep” (lifescience)
For as long as we can remember we are always told to never sleep with your baby that you could suffocate them by rolling over on them or what not. In a study by Davies, he found that prior to the 1700's co-sleeping was a normal thing around the world. It was not until the 1800's when the western society moved away from co-sleeping to an independent sleeping arrangement claiming the child will be too attached and have security problems; you will never get the child to sleep in their own bed; the child will not learn independence; or, the child could suffocate in various ways. Well, I agree
breastfeed agree that they feel a closer bond with their children after breastfeeding and are able to better understand their child’s wants (Newman and Pitman 14). In The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports that breastfeeding can reduce risk of postpartum depression, a condition that affects 13 percent of mothers, causing them to be upset and even angry at their child for crying, as well as other serious symptoms that can affect the mother’s mental state (3). They also found that a
Although taboo in Western culture, co-sleeping is making a comeback. After the retraction of previous statements against co-sleeping, Dr. Richard Ferber, child sleep guru, has now sided with a family’s decision to share a bed with their infants. Although the American Society of Pediatrics warns that sleeping with your infant can increase the risk of sudden infant death syndrome, the exact cause of SIDS is still unknown. The emotional benefits of sharing a bed with your baby can be enormous and some would argue that engaging in co-sleeping strengthens the bond between parent and child.
Furthermore, the education provided helped them to understand by each illustration was a reflection of the Safe to Sleep imitative. Modeling safe sleep not only benefited infants during hospitalization but benefited them after their discharge home. Staff were to model safe sleep by placing all infants in cribs supine, on a flat surface, in a sleep sack without a hat, and no addition items in their beds except a pacifier and bulb syringe.
One of the major points discussed is in sleeping in Houston is the deaths during bed sharing, the police say this is caused by suffocation during bed sharing and parents rolling onto their baby due to fatigue. This is countered in “Co-Sleeping research” By listing points that benefits, the argument for “Co-Sleeping” Such as babies are able to breastfeed during Co-sleeping another point is that the parent and the baby are highly responsive to each other movements also that babies rarely cry during the Co-Sleeping. During the time that I allowed my kids to sleep with, me the cried a lot, Furthermore, my children also breastfeed a lot. They would also wake me up so that they can play around. The children would wake me up to play with them, they
Hello, Abigail! I found your post very interesting, as it brought up some examples that I hadn't thought about. My mother breastfed all of her children, so I didn't really consider the increasing amount of women using milk-formula for their children. Whereas, in many other places breastfeeding is the norm. It is definitely an interesting thing, as breastfeeding is considered healthier and better for the child, yet it seems more and more people are choosing to use formula. I wonder if breastfeeding will make a come-back like co-sleeping currently is doing? Many doctors are worried about the comeback of co-sleeping, as it can be dangerous and they warn against it. By co-sleeping, they are specifically talking about same-bed sleeping, as many
One practice that I disagree with would be the concept of co-sleeping in the family bed. In our culture this practice consists of children sleeping with their parents, this practice is common. The reality that is faced amongst many American households is the idea of the family bed has been taken hold by the children. Since there are many mothers who are working long hours and away from their children they believe that they should make up time because of their missed attachment time. So they decide to share their beds. Another reason they share the bed is because they believe there's no other feeling like the feeling of having their baby snuggled next to them in bed to heighten the feeling of closeness. Sharing a bed can also make breastfeeding
Co sleeping is a very controversial topic in the United States. Co sleeping can have good benefits for the baby, yet it can be very dangerous. If you are considering co sleeping, it is good to educate yourself. There are many pros and cons to co sleeping. A few of these include the baby getting more nighttime sleep, more bonding with your baby, and less sleep for the parents.
Co-sleeping is the involvement of a child or infant sleeping with their mother in the same area or room (Berger, 2012). Co- sleeping in our society is rare, but becoming more common like in other parts of the world such as Asia or Africa, where sleeping next to your child is considered normal, because they feel it’s cruel to separate your child at night. (Berger, 2012). Most American parents place their infants in warm cribs in their own room and are usually monitored by a baby monitor. Co-sleeping can be very effective when it comes to breastfeeding, helping the baby feel safe, making it easier for the baby to fall asleep, helps infants and mothers get more sleep time, and helps connect the child with the parent (Gupta, 2014).
Infants should be allowed to fall asleep in their bed, rather than be put to bed while asleep. Science shows that this creates a healthy baby that learns to
The significantly powerful influence of breastfeeding on infants’ lives is undeniable; thus, breastfeeding should be promoted and supported. Ample evidence has recognized the important role that bed-sharing plays in fostering breastfeeding. A study conducted by McKenna, Mosko, and Richard (1997) examined the association between breastfeeding and bed-sharing by monitoring the duration and frequency of breastfeeding between co-sleeping infants and solitary sleeping infants. The results showed that bed-sharing was related to extended duration of breastfeeding with co-slept infants being breastfed three times longer amid the night compared to solitary sleeping infants, demonstrating that bed-sharing was positively correlated to breastfeeding, as the frequency of bed-sharing increases, breastfeeding also increases. One explanation for bed-sharing encouraging breastfeeding is that bed-sharing enabled mothers to detect their infants’ subtle changes and movements that
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
In the independent model of parenting lots of praise is given. When I become a parent I plan to praise my child when they do tasks on their own. Praise will give the child confidence and perseverance to continue to do well. Children who never get praised may end up feeling like a disappointment or failure to their parents. It’s important for children to find their voice and not always have a parent speak up for them like in the interdependence model. I also believe it’s extremely important for a child to sleep in their own room. “The Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend co-sleeping because Western beds are not designed for that'd infant deaths are attributed to parents’ rolling over on the child.” (Brooks, 2013) Co-sleeping is not only