Imagine you just had a baby and you are taking him/her home today. It comes to bed time; would you have your child sleep with you in the bed or in a crib? Co-sleeping is an important decision when it comes to parenting. Co-sleeping is when a baby, from birth to age two, sleeps with their parents in the same bed. It is also a big discussion if co-sleeping is a good idea or not. Many people have different opinions. I have a couple of sources that look at both sides of the issue. Three of the sources are blogs. Two out of the three shows advantages of co-sleeping and the other is against co-sleeping. My mother, who is another source, is against co-sleeping due to some experience with me when I was a baby. One study that is very interesting looks …show more content…
There was this study done by Meret A. Keller and Wendy A. Goldberg that is focused on if co-sleeping is affecting student’s independence and self-reliance in a negative way. They hypothesized that children who sleep on their own are more independent and self-reliant than children who co-sleep. The procedure focuses on 83 preschool aged children and their mothers. They send out surveys to the parents to answer questions that are about independence and self-reliance. For a child to be independent they need to be able to fall asleep on their own, sleep through the entire night all by themselves, and be weaned from breastfeeding. In order for the child to be self-reliant, they need to be able to do things themselves such as dress themselves. For the results the children were split into three categories, early co-sleeping where the parents started co-sleeping their child when they were infants, reactive co-sleeping where the parents started co-sleeping their child at or after they were a one-year-old, and solitary sleeper where the child sleeps in the different room as the parents. The results were interesting. They were split into three different types of results. There was “Children’s Self-reliance and Social Independence,” “Independent Sleep Behaviors,” and “Adaptive Independence.” In “Children’s …show more content…
When/if I have a baby, I will not have him/her sleep with my husband and I in the same bed. I probably would be the same as my mother and not get any sleep and become paranoid with the risk of my husband or I rolling over our baby. When he/she gets older and has nightmares and needs that security I will let him/her sleep with my husband and I. In addition, I feel like the child needs to be able to be independent and sleep on their own. In my sources, I have learned many things. I was very surprised with the study of how early co-sleepers show more independence and self-reliance than children who sleep in the crib by themselves. I also learned that there could be some advantages to co-sleeping, like it is easier for the mother to breastfeed since the child is right next to the parents. If you feel like co-sleeping is the best choice, then that is your choice. You, do
Parents are expected to train their children to sleep alone in their cribs, in a separate nursery, from the time they are born onward. This practice stems from the belief that there are far too many risks involved in co-sleeping, but the truth is that there is little to no evidence suggesting that children who sleep with their parents are at any greater risk than those who don’t. In reality, according to James McKenna, a professor of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame and director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory, co-sleeping is very beneficial for the child. He states: "Studies have revealed that co-sleeping babies often grow to be less fearful and more independent than their non-co-sleeping counterparts.
Beginning in the 80s, divorce rates began to skyrocket and parenting itself started to become hands off. On top of all this, there were a few people who gave advice on baby care. This being the hot topic of these decades (BBC). One of these people, Nancy Kohner wrote, "For the first two months or so, the safest way for babies to sleep is on their fronts, head to one side, or else curled up on one side. Then if they are sick there is no chance that they will choke." This was horrible advice from the child rearing "experts" at the time because they hadn't realized the baby would suffocate if placed face down (Gil, Ali, Jenny). For older children disciplining had transferred into the reasoning and praising of good behavior. The 1990s saw the continued rising of divorce rates and an increase in close parenting. This close parenting was known as “helicopter parenting". This form of parenting created antisocial behavior from children, yet children were increasingly independent
Sara believed that it was important for the infant to establish a sense of security by sleeping in the same room as the parents early on, so that in the future when the child becomes old enough to sleep in a different room, the child will feel secure and be calm even when she is alone by knowing that her parents are just in the other room. One way to understand the link between Sara’s sleeping arrangements and her goal of making the infant feel more secure is to consider Erik Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development (Erikson, 1963) The first stage of Erikson’s (1963) theory is trust versus mistrust, during which babies come to trust that their caregivers and other people will meet their physical and emotional needs or start to mistrust that the parents and other people will not take care of them. Sara hoped that by sleeping near her infant so that she could let her child see her when the child goes to sleep or wakes up in the middle of the night, the infant could feel more safe, or “trust,” that the infant’s needs would be tended to whenever necessary. The “trust” would then impact the child’s future development and especially when the time comes for the child to move to a separate room. The child, having received reliable
Even child experts, family doctors and counselors have differing opinions on co-sleeping, a term used to describe the practice of allowing a baby or child to sleep with one or both parents in bed. Other terms, such as bed-sharing or sleep-sharing have also been used. Scientists, pediatricians, family life experts and many authors have conflicting opinions on this custom based on conflicting results of their own research. In the end, some experts believe that it is really up to the family's decision to do what works for them, and no book, research or expert opinion can say definitely which one is best for every family.
Every new parent wishes they were getting more sleep or better sleep. Co-sleeping can be advantageous for the mother, baby, and the rest of the family. I know I felt much more rested and had more energy for my other child, my house, and my husband when I was co-sleeping. There are many benefits to co-sleeping, and some key safety tips as well. When you consider how helpless babies are at birth, co-sleeping just makes sense.
Newborns do not contribute much to society at large. In fact, they do not do much in general. It is impossible to know the details of what goes on in an infant’s mind. One of the things we do know about newborns is that sleep is crucial and they spend an average of 16-18 hours each day sleeping (Ward, 2015). This paper will examine the experiences of one mother’s decisions in regard to sleeping arrangements and the values, both cultural and personal, that support these arrangements. It will also compare her decisions to the decisions of U.S. and Mayan mothers discussed in the research article “Cultural Variation in Infants’ Sleeping Arrangements: Questions of Independence.” The mother who was interviewed for this paper is 54 years old and
For the first three years of my son’s life, I rarely slept through the night because he almost never did. Not only was this a very tiring time of my life, it was very confusing. I was reading a lot of different books about how to get him to sleep and they all seemed to suggest different ways to accomplish this goal. There were so many different options out there, but how would I know what would actually work? Confusion about what sleep training method to use is something I often hear from parents, who may have also received advice and information from many different sources.
Dewar, Gwen. "Sleep requirements in children." Parenting Science. Parenting Science, 2008-2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
Polimeni, M. A., Richdale, A. L., & Francis, A. J. P. (2005). A survey of sleep problems in autism, Asperger's disorder and typically developing children.Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, 49(4), 260-268. http://www.bowdiges.org/documents/files/
Oyen, N., Markestad, T., Skaerven, R., Irgens, L.M., Helweh-Larsen, K., Alm, B., Norvenius, G., Wennergren, G. (1998). Combined Effects of Sleeping Position and Prenatal Risk Factors in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: The Nordic Epidemiological SIDS Study. Journal of Manipulative & Physiological Therapeutics, 21, 614-621.
Researchers today have found themselves dangling in the gray area between science and culture. Through numerous studies and data collection, scientists are able to confirm the possible consequences of co-sleeping. Parents, young and old, have found themselves on opposing ends of the benefits and dangers of allowing their child to share their bed. The article highlights parental decisions are often points of major contention that evoke the defensive maternal nature of today’s parents; however, the issue is rooted deeper than opposing viewing points. While parental choices will forever be debated on personal blogs and talk shows, once scientists place the unintentional death of children on the hands of the parents, people’s true defensive nature
A baby should always be placed on its back when sleeping at night or even just for a nap. The baby should be placed on a firm and flat surface that is covered with a fitted sheet with no other bedding or soft item in the sleeping area. If parents share a room with the infant, the infant must be placed on a separate surface. This should occur until the infant is at least six months to a year. There is a study that shows that breastfeeding your child can reduce the risk of SIDS. Also studies shows that parents should not let their infant get too hot during sleep. The temperature of the room should be adjusted accordingly to the primarily doctor’s instructions. Also, the infant should sleep in a nightdress instead of a blanket. If the child is tossing and turning or even sweating during naps or night, it is usually because of the temperature.
A baby crib is a structure used to cradle and contain infants while they sleep, coo, and play. A mini mattress sits on its foundation. Some models have stabilizer bars to provide extra security. Four sides encompass a mattress to form a rectangular shaped bed. The bed stands on sturdy legs or locking wheels. On average, a baby sleeps in a crib for the first 24 months of his or her life. On the other hand, the child may outgrow the crib, or can get out without assistance. The best baby cribs have a safe and sturdy support structure.
Children sleeping in a bassinet in their parent’s room doesn’t allow them to get used to sleeping in their own
If American parents who are expecting their first child asked me about infant co-sleeping I would suggest them to apply infant co-sleeping during the first months of the infant’s life. The reason for this response is because during the first months newborn infants need special care and comfort from the mother. As the infant continues to grow I would then suggest parent’s to create a separate room for their child to sleep alone and learn to adapt to a new environment that does not include the parents comfort and physical touch. This will allow the child to become independent and secure. I would also tell parents that allowing children to co-sleep does not allow the mother and father to have time alone together which can lead to creating a distant separation between