Sunday, May 13, 2012

Hazards of co-sleeping

On this Mother's Day, I'd like to briefly discuss this week's Time Magazine cover, which shows a woman breastfeeding her child who appears to be about 3 years old.  The related article discusses a parenting strategy called attachment parenting, which includes three main tenets: breastfeeding, sometimes into toddlerhood), lots of physical attachment to the child, such as carrying them in slings while doing your daily activities, and finally, co-sleeping, or sleeping with the child in the parents' bed.  While I'm all for breastfeeding, and there's no real medical reason not to breastfeed for a long time or carry your kid with you all the time, co-sleeping is shown to be linked to a higher rate of SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  This is independent of the risk of rolling over on your baby or whatever.  A bassinet next to your bed is fine, but don't co-sleep.

1 comment:

Ben said...

I'll go a step further and recommend moving that bassinet down the hall. Current studies demonstrate the importance of kids learning to self-sooth, instead of having parents coax them back to sleep. If you can let your little one cry back to sleep in your room, you're a better man than me!