Safer cosleeping
Co-sleeping can be either room sharing where adults and babies have separate sleep surfaces in the same room or bed-sharing where adults and babies share the same sleep surface. A sleep surface is a bed, cot, bassinet or other space intended for sleeping on. This doesn’t include armchairs, couches, sofas, bean bags or other places an adult might fall asleep.
Whichever way you choose to co-sleep with your baby, the same safety guidelines apply. Just as they do when sleeping alone, babies need a clear, flat surface to sleep safely. You can find current guidelines here
Research shows that mothers who breastfeed and bedshare get the most sleep. Also, mothers who bedshare are more likely to meet their long-term breastfeed goals. So it is important that breastfeeding families are supported to keep mother and baby close during the day and night. Breastsleeping is a new term for this practice as old as mammals themselves.
Intentional and planned bedsharing means adults are less likely to fall asleep holding their baby in unsafe spaces.
“Parent-child cosleeping is typically considered by researchers and parenting advisors to be a unitary construct. However, existing evidence suggests that parents who purposefully sleep with their young children at night (intentional cosleepers) may be very different than those who co-sleep in reaction to existing sleep problems (reactive cosleepers).”
