– An increasing number of parents are bringing their babies to bed with them, regardless of some negative advice and cautionary tales. “Attachment parenting”, which encourages co-sleeping alongside breastfeeding, skin-to-skin, and infant-mother bonding, has increased in popularity. The American National Infant Sleep Position study found that bed sharing doubled between 1993 and 2000 from 5.5% to 12.8% of parents.

– According to Professor James McKenna, an expert in co-sleeping who leads the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, babies finish their development after birth and need to be near their mothers to secure this process. McKenna argues that many cultures around the world still co-sleep with their kids, including Japanese and Indian families. Western societies moved away from this idea only when three “white guys” introduced sleep recommendations for infants, propagating a culture of “self-sufficiency and autonomy.”

Image: Wikimedia Commons

READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE