Co-Sleeping: Should Your Child Sleep In Your Bed?

Co-sleeping is the practice where the child sleeps in bed with his parents. Not surprisingly, it is one of the most hotly debated and controversial topics related to pediatric sleep. Let’s see why.

Some people argue that co-sleeping is the right and natural way to raise a child because the practice fosters a stronger bond and a more secure attachment.

Conversely, others will tell you that co-sleeping is risky, ridiculous, or even dangerous and they don’t want it for their family.

So, which approach holds the truth?

First, it’s important to understand that co-sleeping is not magic. Although some proponents of the family bed would disagree, numerous couples have reported that their babies did not necessarily sleep deeper or longer because their parents were close by. In fact, some parents found that their child slept longer and woke less frequently when they stopped co-sleeping and moved him into his own crib.

However, whether families choose to co-sleep or have their children sleep independently is a personal decision, and if both parents and child are safe, rested, and fulfilled, then co-sleeping is nothing to worry about.

If you decide do co-sleep, this commitment requires some very careful thinking about what you and your spouse feel is right for you as individuals, as a couple, and as a family.

Ask yourselves the following questions:

• Is it nice to think about enjoying the coziness of sleeping in close proximity, or does one or more of us tend to stay active during sleeping – potentially disrupting the others?

• Does everyone in our family want to co-sleep, or are we leaning toward it because one of us feels strongly?

• Are we willing to commit to being quiet after our child falls asleep, or do we like to watch TV or talk in bed?

• Will we enjoy being able to feed our baby more often throughout the night, or will having him next to us make it tougher to wean nighttime feeds?

• Are we agreeable to getting into bed when our child does, to ensure his safety?

• For working parents, does sleeping next to our child allow us to feel more connected to him?

As expected, co-sleeping has both advantages and disadvantages.

Let’s take a closer look at them.

Advantages:

• Constant closeness whenever the child is awake. Many children and parents enjoy this feeling.

• Immediate action and support for any sleep-related problem

• The ability to nurse and respond to other nighttime wakings without getting up

• More time to spend with the child

• Possibly better sleep for both the child and the parents, if the child was sleeping poorly to begin with.

Disadvantages:

• Parents may sleep poorly if their children are restless sleepers

• Parents may end up sleeping in separate rooms, and they may become angry at their child or with each other

• Children’s and adults’ sleep cycles do not coincide

• Parents may have to go to bed at a very early hour with their children and be left with little time for their own evening activities

• Parents have little privacy

• There may be a slight increase in the risk to the infant from SIDS and related causes.

The decision to co-sleep should be yours, made by the parent – or parents – and based on your own personal philosophies, not on pressure from your child or anyone else. Another family’s good or bad experience with co-sleeping should not influence your decision: your child is unique and your family is not the same.

Watch the VIDEO HERE to learn more about baby sleep.

Baby Sleep Aids – So Everyone Can Sleep Well

How many times in the last few weeks have you tried to get your baby to sleep but to no avail?  Millions of families go through this every night and when all else fails, baby sleep aids can help you to get some of the sleep you deserve and crave for.

The problem is that there are many baby sleep aids available, so which one do you choose?    Here are a few examples of baby sleep aids that are commonly used and that you may wish to try to see if they’ll help to solve your baby’s sleeping problem..

Firstly, how can you go wrong with the good old blanket?  At some point, every single one of us has us clung on to a blanket as babies.  The comfort, security, and warmth will leave a baby feeling cozy and allow him to relax if he’s having trouble sleeping.  It’s one of the best and most used baby sleep aids ever.

As a variation of this, you could use some other transitional object such as a teddy bear, or possibly mom’s t-shirt, so that your baby can settle down with a smell that he or she is comfortable with.

Unfortunately though, there are times when a blanket or other transitional object just won’t be enough, so you may wish to consider utilizing another baby sleep aid or baby sleep technique.

Night lights are also common baby sleep aids and can help make your child feel a little more comfortable in their dark surroundings.  Although we may not know it, babies may often wake up and cry because they aren’t used to being alone and they don’t recognise their surroundings.  A night light will give them security when they open their eyes. Being in familiar surroundings and being able to see the baby toys above the bed or stars on the ceiling will put them at ease.

Music or sounds are also great types of baby sleep aids you might want to try if you haven’t already.  Soft, carefree music such as classical musical at low volumes is very soothing for a baby’s ears which can help get them to sleep.  You could even leave this music playing through the entire night if it helped. 

Alternatively, white noise, which can sound horrible to adults, can be extremely soothing for a baby.  A fan, having the television on, or even the sounds of nature …. birds, rain or whale sounds are very common. There are also white noise CD’s you can buy with the sound of a vacuum cleaner or washing machine etc. Again, these sound rather strange but really can help.

Although all of these are all capable baby sleep aids and many parents will testify to their effectiveness, it is also possible that none of them may work for your child.  No two children are the same and so there is unfortunately no single cure-all for baby sleeping problems.  However, with some tried and tested baby sleep techniques, a good sleep routine and the odd baby sleep aid thrown in for good measure, you and your baby can soon be getting the full nights sleep that you richly deserve. Click here.

Baby Sleep Problems

What Effect Does Feeding Have?

New Mums and Dads and even parents with several kids, often find that their little baby may not be sleeping as well as he or she should.

Many parents look for the underlying cause of the problem, hoping to find a simple answer. This also leaves some parents questioning if feeding could have something to do with the problem.

The intent of this article is to investigate further into the different aspects of feeding your small baby and examine the effects that feeding could perhaps have on a babys sleeping routine and habits.

First, we should list the particular feeding areas that we will be discussing. These are:

• Mixing Breast-feeding and Bottle Feedings
• Feeding your baby to sleep
• What are YOU eating and can it affect your babys sleeping pattern?
• Can solids help your baby sleep?

Mixing Breast-feeding and Bottle Feedings

It is believed that a mixture of bottle and breast in feedings could potentially lead to sleeping problems. There are a couple of different reasons for this when you are breast-feeding your little baby. With each feeding, the breast is signaling to the brain that more milk needs to be produced for the following feeding. When a bottle is incorporated into feedings, this process could be interfered with. The breast will start to produce less milk due to the less frequent breast feedings.

Also, during the times when you do breast-feed your baby, he or she will not get as full with the breast-feeding because of the lessening of milk supply. Therefore your baby will require feeding more frequently which will mean his or her sleep patterns will be interrupted by the need for feeding.

Feeding your baby to sleep

Feeding your child until he or she goes to sleep may be creating a problem with their sleep patterns. Your baby will soon begin to recognize that you feed him or her at bedtime. This will become something they depend on and expect. Normally, this will be the situation with each waking throughout the night as well.

There are of course, techniques you can use to stop your baby from depending on feedings to fall asleep.

Firstly, change the time or the amount of time you feed your baby when nearing his or her bedtime. Doing so will gradually remove the association of bedtime with feeding.

Another option is to feed your child earlier in the evening instead of as a bedtime routine. When you do these things your baby will not associate feeding with bedtime. This will help your baby to learn to fall asleep on his or her own accord.

What are YOU eating and can it affect your babys sleeping pattern?

The answer quite simply is yes. As a breast-feeding mom, everything that you drink or eat will affect your breast milk. If you do not eat the correct amount of foods and calories daily, your breast milk is greatly affected. It is important that you eat the recommended three meals daily and maybe a few snacks in between. Your milk needs to have adequate calories in it in order for your baby to feel nicely full and satisfied. If it does not, he or she will continue to feed longer until full.

You need to eat healthier foods and eat them more regularly, as well as having plenty to drink throughout the day. This will help your milk supply, thus helping your baby and his or her sleep patterns. The fuller your baby feels, the better he or she will sleep.


Will solids help your baby to sleep?

Many people believe this will help, but studies have not associated any change in babies who were fed by the breast and / or bottle and those who are fed solids. This has not been proven to help the baby to sleep at all. Generally, Doctors do not recommend adding solid foods prior to six months of age.

Chris Towland

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