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from Natural Life Magazine, Sept/Oct
2007 Sleeping With Your Baby 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 (Platypus Media, LLC, 2007). Dr. McKenna directs the Mother-Baby Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame. He has been studying cosleeping for over 25 years. 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 North America, 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. In many Asian cultures where cosleeping is the norm, including China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is either unheard of or rare. In Hong Kong and Japan, which have almost universal cosleeping, SIDS rates are among the lowest in the world. 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?” My book includes information on how to bedshare safely and when it should be avoided, information parents need to make sound choices. Q: Why do parents always get told that they should never sleep with their babies? A: Parents are receiving dangerous advice from medical authorities that mislead them into assuming that all pediatricians and all SIDS researchers recommend against bedsharing. This is just not true. The American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on SIDS claims bedsharing is always hazardous. This is flat out wrong! Done correctly, whether this means cosleeping, bedsharing or room sharing, infants sleeping with their parents are more likely to survive! The U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission says never sleep with your baby; the only safe place for an infant to sleep is in a crib that meets current safety standards. It is sad that a small group of “experts” have the parents in western countries bamboozled into believing that the entire history of civilization was wrong... To read the rest of this article, subscribe to Natural Life's digital edition, which includes access to this and other back issues. |
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