I Am Guilty… Of Bed Sharing (And I Love It)

 

Attachment parenting is becoming more commonplace that it used to be so I Am Guilty… Of Bed Sharing (And I Love It).

 

I Am Guilty… Of Bed Sharing (And I Love It)

 

I Am Guilty… Of Bed Sharing (And I Love It)

Attachment parenting is becoming more commonplace that it used to be so I Am Guilty… Of Bed Sharing (And I Love It).

One of the hot button topics is co-sleeping.

While it may not be the norm in North America, it is quite the opposite in the rest of the world.

As for me, I just fell into it when my son finally came home from the NICU.

Since we were trying to successfully work on breastfeeding, it was so much easier to have him right there instead of having to get up every time he was hungry.

We started off room sharing because he was still feeding from a bottle, but as soon as he learned to latch on, we began bed sharing.

 

Why I chose to bedshare

It allows him to be close and nurse as he needs, meeting his needs more efficiently than if he was sleeping independently in a separate room.

By the way, room sharing is considered a form of co-sleeping.

Here we are eleven months later, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love having him sleep with us. In the beginning, he was in the middle with no pillows or blankets.

Now, he will not sleep with out some type of minky blanket and he has usually stolen a pillow before the night is over.

I still lay him on his back to go to sleep.

Not that he stays like that. He sleeps in some of the strangest positions, but he always has a hand on one of us.

I feel like it has allowed us to bond so much more than we would have otherwise.

BUT we will see how this all turns out when I eventually move him to his own bed.

So definitely I Am Guilty… Of Bed Sharing (And I Love It)

We are in no rush to get him out, yet.

As long as it is just the three of us, this works.

Now, when we decide to add another Peanut to the bunch, it will probably get interesting.  

 

The science of it:

A look at other primates suggests that this is what is natural.

You often see the babies hanging on to their mothers, providing them constant warmth and the ability to suckle as needed.

When did it become normal to put them in another room and say they will be OK like this?

This why babywearing has such a calming effect on an infant.

It provides them the security that they crave.

This is the same with co-sleeping in all of its forms.

The infant feels secure in knowing that they are not alone.

The University of Notre Dame has studied the effect of co-sleeping in their Behavioral Sleep Laboratory.

What they have found is that mothers and infants who sleep together spend more time in lighter sleep, thereby responding quicker to the others movements.

http://cosleeping.nd.edu

So what is your position on co-sleeping? What do you think of  “I Am Guilty… Of Bed Sharing (And I Love It)” Please comment below.

Are you interested in some more Sleep related articles? Check these out; Top 3 Holiday Sleep Tips, Daytime Sleep Tips for Your Babies First Year and Boost Your Quality of Sleep When You Have a Baby, 10 Tips for Safe Co-Sleeping

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