This study investigated the relationship between sleep arrangements and claims regarding possible problems and benefits related to co-sleeping. Participants were 83 mothers of preschoolaged children. Data were collected through parent questionnaires. Early co-sleepers (who began co-sleeping in infancy), reactive co-sleepers (children who began co-sleeping at or after age one), and solitary sleepers were compared on the dimensions of maternal attitudes toward sleep arrangements; night wakings and bedtime struggles; children's self-reliance and independence in social and sleep-related behaviours; and maternal autonomy support. The hypothesis that co-sleeping would interfere with children's independence was partially supported: solitary sleepers fell asleep alone, slept through the night, and weaned earlier than the co-sleepers. However, early co-sleeping children were more self-reliant (e.g. ability to dress oneself) and exhibited more social independence (e.g. make friends by oneself). Mothers of early co-sleeping children were least favourable toward solitary sleep arrangements and most supportive of their child's autonomy, as compared to mothers in other sleep groups. Reactive cosleepers emerged as a distinct co-sleeping sub-type, with parents reporting frequent night wakings and, contrary to early cosleepers, experiencing these night wakings as highly disruptive. Implications for parents and pediatricians are discussed.

This study examined solitary sleeping and co-sleeping arrangements in families with a young child. Data were obtained from questionnaires completed by two independent samples, one of mothers (N = 100) and one of fathers (N = 38) of preschool-aged children. Types of family sleep arrangements included children who slept in their own room from infancy, children who shared the parental bed from infancy, and children who returned to bedsharing following a period of solitary sleeping. Mothers and fathers described reasons for family sleep arrangements, attitudes towards sleep arrangements, satisfaction with sleep arrangements, and perceptions of children's sleep-related problems. Survey questions also addressed marital relations, parenting, and well-being. Results indicated that mothers and fathers endorsed similar reasons for their families' sleep arrangements, although reasons differed by the type of sleep arrangement. Satisfaction with sleep arrangements was more likely for mothers and fathers whose attitudes coincided with their actual sleep practices. Parents who experienced more problems with their child's sleep behaviours also reported disharmony in marital and parenting domains. Thus, 'nighttime parenting' was found to be associated with other important domains of family life for both mothers and fathers.

Transactional models of parenting and infant sleep call attention to bidirectional associations among parenting, the biosocial environment, and infant sleep behaviors. Although night waking and bedtime fussing are normative during infancy and early childhood, they can be challenging for parents. The current study, conducted in the United States between 2003 and 2009, examined concurrent and longitudinal associations between maternal mental health and infant sleep during the first year. Concurrent associations at 6 and 12 months and longitudinal associations from 6 to 12 months were studied in a non-clinic referred sample of 171 economically and culturally diverse families. Mothers with poorer mental health reported that their infants had more night waking and bedtime distress and were more bothered by these sleep issues. Associations between infant sleep and maternal mental health were moderated by culture (Hispanic/Asian vs. other) and by stressors that included high parenting stress, more stressful life events, and low family income. Individual differences in maternal well-being may color mothers’ interpretations of infants’ sleep behaviors. It may be prudent to intervene to support maternal mental health when infants are referred for sleep problems.

Emergent themes from this special issue on parent-child cosleeping are featured in this concluding article. Each of the pieces in this collection addressed one or more of the following themes: methodologies for studying parent-infant co-sleeping, physical and social characteristics of the child's sleep environment, associations between sleep location and breastfeeding, infant and child maturational issues, parental attitudes and values about sleep arrangements, special needs populations, maternal employment, sleep problems, sleep transitions, and future directions for research and policy. Together, the contributions define a context for weighing the benefits and disadvantages of family sleep arrangements during infancy and early childhood.

The practice of parents and their young children co‐sleeping is a topic of ongoing controversy and debate. Both physical and psychosocial risks and benefits have been attached to this practice. In this introduction to the special issue, we present the prevailing views about early sleep arrangements. We then discuss the organization of the special issue and highlight the contributions of each article. Together, this collection of original articles comprises a body of research that advances our understanding of co‐sleeping in the context of social and physical environments. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Is the process of helping infants and young children learn to sleep through the night a solution to family sleep problems or does it exacerbate matters for mother and child? Retrospective and current accounts from a nonclinical, convenience sample of 102 mothers of preschool-aged children provided information on sleep issues from early infancy through preschool age. Child, mother, and parenting characteristics, along with family sleep arrangements, were differentially related to the age at which children learned to sleep through the night and to the extent of difficulty that characterized this experience. Mothers who indicated more difficulty as their children learned to sleep through the night also reported more depressive symptoms and more strain in the mother-child relationship. Later age at sleeping through the night was more common among early bedsharers, but timing of sleeping through the night was not associated with preschool children's reported independence in several nonsleep domains. Sleep arrangements and the importance placed on sleeping through the night were the strongest contributors to variance explained in whether children learned to sleep through the night during infancy or toddlerhood. When advising parents about sleep interventions, practitioners should seek to understand whether families' parenting values fit their nighttime sleep practices.

The objective of this short-term longitudinal study was to examine the concurrent and prospective associations of infants' sleep arrangements and night waking with cortisol responses to an inoculation at 6 and 12 months, controlling for several key covariates. To our knowledge, this was the first study to concurrently and prospectively link proximity in sleep arrangements and night waking to physiological stress reactivity. A sample of 92 mother-infant dyads participated in the study when the infants were 6 and 12 months of age, although sample sizes were reduced for some analyses. Both proximal cosleeping arrangements and more frequent night wakings' were associated concurrently with an increased cortisol response to inoculations at both ages. Night waking at 6 months also was associated with a slightly increased cortisol response to inoculation at 12 months. Results aimed at exploring the direction of influence suggested that cosleeping and night waking may influence infant stress physiology rather than the reverse. Adaptive and maladaptive implications of infants' nocturnal experiences and greater stressinduced cortisol responses are discussed.