Co-Sleeping: 10 reasons why

The Top 10 Reasons Why Every Parent Should Co-Sleep

1. Infants who co-sleep go to sleep faster and stay asleep longer.
2. Sleeping together helps babies and parents form a close bond that continues throughout life.
3. Co-sleeping offers a lower risk of SIDS than other forms of infant sleep do.
4. Children who co-sleep are healthier mentally and emotionally. They have higher self-esteem & more positive outlooks. It's also been shown that they preform better in school.
5. Breastfeeding is easier. Babies don't need to cry until mom wakes up, goes to get baby and nurse. Allowing mom & baby both to get more sleep through the night.
6. Co-Sleeping expert, James McKenna reminds parents that "co-sleeping gives the parent the best opportunity to hear the baby in crisis and to respond." He adds that "since protection from SIDS may be related to the frequency and duration of breastfeeding, and because babies breastfeed more when co-sleeping, this practice may help to protect some breastfeeding infants."
7. More mothers who co-sleep report feeling better rested.
8. By sleeping next to the mother, the infant learns when to breath as gaps in breathing are normal during the early months of infancy. The mother also becomes in tune with the infants breathing and is more aware when the infant’s breathing becomes irregular. This prevents any incidence of SIDS from occurring and if the baby was alone, this type of life-saving intervention could not take place.
9. Nightmares & Night Terrors are less common among children who bed share and they are more likely not to develop separation anxieties when they are placed in their own beds.
10. Nighttime safety is overall better since parents are close in case of emergencies like fire, suffocation, illness, etc. Children within reach of parents also have less of a chance of injury simply out of the fact that parents are more aware of the goings on.