Co-sleeping can simply be defined as sleeping with your kid. It can be sharing your bed with your child or sleeping with your baby in the same room on a separate bed. In western countries, having a separate room for infant is a common thing. This room has a proper crib along with every other necessary things for the newborn. But in India, this is not a common approach. There are few rich urban parents who are adopting this concept of separate room for baby with proper decoration. But before everything else, we must take into account benefits of co-sleeping with baby. It is important to take into consideration pros and cons of co-sleeping with child before adapting this practice.
Pros of Sleeping with Your Baby
Here are some very important benefits associated with co-sleeping with babies:
- Better Sleep for Babies
According to the researches, when babies sleep close to their mothers, they sleep better and healthier. They show lesser startle reflexes which in turn help babies have steadier breathing patterns and heart rates. Having someone around when you are sleeping always makes you feel safer and more comfortable. And when an infant is born, it is a completely new world for him and to make him feel cozier, sleeping with infants is a good choice.
- Easy Nursing
It is not easy for a new mother to keep getting out of her room to feed the newborn. It is also not easy for her to leave her warm bed every now and then to go to her baby’s crib to feed her. It is nothing but very crazy to keep getting up every now and then. But if you are sharing bed your baby, you don’t need to get up at odd hours just to feed your baby. You have your child right next to you and without any inconvenience, you can feed him. Neither you are disturbed and nor is the baby.
- Helps Rest
For a new mother, it is very important to take good amount of rest but if she has to keep getting up every two hours to feed her baby, she will miss on her sleep and rest. Bed sharing with baby gives mothers also the much needed rest. They also tend to fall asleep in synch with their kids which helps them sleep well and take good amount of rest.
- Lesser Chances of SIDS
In India, we are not familiar with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS which are also known as crib deaths. They occur when an infant dies in sleep and no reason is diagnosed for the same. Sleeping with your child is very effective in reducing the possibility of SIDS in infants as mother is always there with the kid.
- Develops Stronger Bonding
When kids sleep with parents near them, they automatically develop stronger bonds with them. This is a silent and natural way of developing a connection. Co-sleeping with kids is one of the best ways to develop connections for working moms who are not present to be with their kids for all day long. It is simply the presence that helps develop a relationship even when the baby is asleep.
- Imparts Emotional Security
Co-sleeping is also very effective in imparting emotional security in your toddler which in turn is very helpful in making your child independent and self-reliant as he grows up. When toddler sleeps with the mother, he feels safe and protected which imparts him emotional strength.
These are the benefits or pros of sleeping with babies. Let us now have a quick look at some of the cons of co-sleeping with toddler.
Cons of Co-sleeping with Babies
- Take into account the safety measures while sleeping with your baby. It is always good to make him sleep next to the mother and not in the center.
- Never co-sleep with the baby under the influence of alcohol or any such drug because of which you feel you will not be able to respond to his needs.
- You need to be extra careful while sleeping with premature baby with low weight.
- Keep your baby safe from corners to save him from risks of falling from the bed. Always place pillows on his side but if he is six months or above, you need to shift him to crib to make sure he sleeps well without any problem.
These are some of the points which must be kept in mind to ensure a happy and healthy co-sleeping experience with your toddler.