Cosleeping with a baby is common in many parts of the world. But it’s controversial in North America, where some medical organizations warn that it can cause suffocation. Here is another perspective from James J. McKenna, Ph.D., author of a new book on the subject called Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Cosleeping…

Q: Does cosleeping benefit babies? A: Benefits are, of course, always relevant to whom is cosleeping, what it means to them, and how they practice it. Cosleeping makes babies happy. From a scientific point of view, cosleeping babies cry less and sleep more. Babies lying next to their mothers can breastfeed easily without having to cry in order to make their needs known. Mothers get more sleep, too (though it is more light sleep.) Here in the U.S., we are the most unsatisfied, unhappy and exhausted parents in the world because we place babies at odds with their biology.

Q: Isn’t cosleeping dangerous? A: Sleeping alone is not biologically correct. Human infants are born more neurologically immature than any other species (excluding marsupials.) Our central nervous systems depend on a microenvironment that is like the in-utero environment, full of sensory stimulation. Babies need the warmth, stimulation and monitoring that comes with sleeping next to a caregiver.

Almost all, fully 95 percent, of the world sleeps with their baby, and there are only very few cultures in the world for which babies sleeping alone is even thought to be acceptable or desirable…

The vast majority of scientific studies on infant behavior and development conducted in diverse fields during the last 100 years suggests that the question placed before us should not be “Is it safe to sleep with my baby?” but rather, “Is it safe not to do so?” …

Q: Won’t my child be emotionally dependent if we cosleep? A: Absolutely not! Independence and autonomy have nothing to do with forcing babies to learn how to sleep by themselves…

Source: Natural Life
http://www.life.ca/nl/117/cosleeping.html