Sleep with his mother allows the baby to feel secure, strengthens emotional contact, allows both sleep and facilitates breastfeeding at night. In addition, several studies suggest that co-sleeping reduces the risk of sudden infant death.
Opponents of this approach believe sleeping with your child is unhygienic and fear that the child can be asphyxiated by mistake in his sleep, or to inflict psychological trauma. In addition, many are worried about the quality of sexual and emotional ties between the parents.
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What are the benefits of co-sleeping?
The main advantages of co-sleeping are that sleep rhythms of parents and the child are consistent, and so they begin to wake up at about the same time, which greatly facilitates the night caring for the baby. In addition, the constant presence of the child
next to her mother, his smell, skin to skin contact, increase production of the hormone prolactin from the mother, which helps sustain breastfeeding. Many mothers feed the baby at night “in a dream” sleeps better this way. Co-sleeping helps the child confuse day and night, and promotes the establishment of a long night’s sleep. Numerous studies show that co-sleeping significantly reduces the risk of sudden infant death in children less than one year.
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How to ensure the safety of the child?
In order that the co-sleeping with the baby was safe, you must pay attention to the next things. First of all, you need to use a hard mattress, as the soft, for example, water mattress increases the risk that the child would suffocate.
Of course, the bedding should be sufficiently clean and changed regularly, but the child does not need a pillow, at least, the entire first year of life. Need to completely eliminate the possibility of a child falling in his sleep. For example, you can move up the bed against a wall or buy special removable sides for beds. In no way take the baby with you in the bed, if anyone of the parents is under the influence of alcohol or other stimulants, as well as sleeping pills and tranquilizers. Ensure that the child in the parental bed does not suffer from overheating.
As for infections, sleep in the same bed with healthy parents is not more dangerous than kisses or hugs.
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How to teach a child to sleep in his bed when he was used to co-sleep?
Usually, sleeping together is coming to an end simultaneously with the completion of breastfeeding which is about 2.5-3 years.
When holding the baby to sleep, it is important to develop a permanent ritual, daily follow it and do not force things. Many parents lie with the child or sit by his bed until he falls asleep, hugging him tightly, making light massage or telling tales.
Some children continue to come in the night to the parents for quite a long time, even if gladly goes to sleep in his crib. This is perfectly normal and eventually come to naught. The main thing is to praise the child for a fully independent night sleep, instead of scolding for “visits to the parents.”
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When it’s better to do without co-sleeping?
It is better to avoid co-sleeping if the mother is worried not to crush the baby during the sleep, and it does not allow her to sleep peacefully. It happens that the kid, who had slept for a long time one cannot calm down and goes to sleep in the parent’s bed, in particulars this, applies to children with hyperexcitability.
