November 2013
69
Not everyone is talking about it, but co-sleeping
is giving plenty of parents and babies a good
night’s rest.
Marie Teather
investigates.
Three
inthebed
and the little
one said...
U
ntil you’ve had a baby,
you cannot imagine how
many conversations can
be focused around sleep.
Before baby, the sleep process was a
relatively simple procedure: go to bed
when tired, shut eyes and wake up
eight hours later.
Yet once you have a baby, sleep
becomes a highly debated topic; it’s
much talked, judged, and boasted
about; and, at times, it’s controversial.
Despite shelves of books devoted
to baby sleep routines, online forums
full of tired mums asking for help,
and a thriving industry of sleep
consultants, it seems sleep and your
baby is still a confusing and frustrating
journey to navigate. Throw the term
“co-sleeping” into the mix and you’re
stepping into a whole new arena of
sleep ideology.
It’s controversial
Watch a mum in one of Hong Kong’s
playgroups “confess” that she is co-
sleeping with her baby and you might
catch uncomfortable silences from
her fellow mum friends. In a world
of structured sleeping schedules,
made popular by the likes of Gina
Ford and Gary Ezzo, a co-sleeping
arrangement, often included as part
of the wider attachment parenting
philosophy, is very much the bad boy
of sleeping arrangements.
Co-sleeping simply means that
babies and young children sleep close
to one or both parents, as opposed to
in a separate room.
For the majority of mothers and
babies in the world, co-sleeping is the
norm. In much of southern Europe,
Asia, Central and South America, and
Africa, mothers and babies typically
share sleep. In many cultures, co-
sleeping is expected until children are
weaned, with some continuing after.
Yet for those of us from the West,
there seems to be a large degree of
anxiety around co-sleeping. What’s
going on?
Ultimately, the concerns come
down to safety. Compared to using
a separate infant bed, views on the
safety of co-sleeping and its effect
on babies’ health vary. Google the
heart-breaking term “SIDS” and
“co-sleeping” and you’re right in
the middle of the hot debate.
Reports are released almost every
month from reputable scientific
bodies and research studies: on one
side is evidence supporting the claim
