Parent-infant co-sleeping: fathers' roles and perspectives

Abstract

Dyadic co-sleeping (mother -baby) is a common strategy for night-time infant care in the majority of world cultures. Triadic co-sleeping (mother -father -baby) is less common, although still widely practised cross-culturally. This paper examines triadic co-sleeping in an opportunistic sample of parents from the North Tees region of England, and explores fathers' expectations and experiences of sleeping with their babies. Using a prospective study design, 36 sets of parents, pre-and post-natally, were interviewed about infant care strategies, particularly at night. Although they did not anticipate sleeping with their infants at the pre-natal interview, the majority of fathers (81%) had done so by the time of the second interview. First-time fathers were afraid that they would squash or suffocate the baby in their sleep, and some were concerned that the infant's presence would adversely affect their own sleep. Fathers used a variety of strategies to help overcome their initial fears of co-sleeping. Among those for whom triadic co-sleeping became a regular night-time infant care strategy, the pleasures of prolonged intimate contact with their infant were clearly apparent. It is suggested that the experience of sleeping with their infant ameliorates some of the distancing effects felt by fathers outside the breast-feeding relationship, and helps encourage paternal involvement in nighttime infant care-giving. aim of this paper was to explore parents' attitudes towards sleeping arrangements for their infants, and to document night-time parenting behaviour in a post-industrial region of the north-east of England (Ball et al., 1999). Here, fathers' attitudes and practices

Co‐sleeping as a window into Swedish culture: considerations of gender and health care

“…It is important to note the fact that in Sweden fathers are considered appropriate persons with whom children share bed space. The cross‐cultural evidence would support this finding, although the reasons and meaning given for the practice differ (35). ‘Fathering is a feminist issue (36); by using the window of the practice of co‐sleeping to view ideas about gender, as well as the larger paradigm of gender and health (37) it is clear that in Sweden, parents value fathers’ involvement in the practice’.…”

Toward an Integrated Anthropology of Infant Sleep

“…The first twenty years of anthropological infant sleep research was therefore dominated by a bioanthropology and evolutionary medicine perspective that revealed: an intricate interrelationship between mother–infant sleep contact and nighttime breastfeeding behavior (McKenna and Bernshaw ; McKenna, Mosko, and Richard ; Mosko, Richard, and McKenna ) the mutual physiological regulation of mother–infant sleep architecture during sleep contact (Mosko et al. ; Mosko, Richard, and McKenna , ) an appreciation of the variability of sleep ecology within UK families and the (often hidden) prevalence of social sleep arrangements (Ball 2006c; Ball, Hooker, and Kelly ; Blair and Ball ) an understanding of the wide range of motivations for and circumstances of different parent–infant sleeping arrangements (Ball , , ; Ball, Hooker, and Kelly ) …”

Prevention Messages in Parent-Infant Bed-Sharing: Message Source, Credibility, and Effectiveness

“… 23 , 24 The majority of infant sleep literature, and specifically literature on bed-sharing prevention, focuses on mothers with less attention given to the beliefs/behaviors of fathers. 11 , 14 , 25 , 26 Fathers are involved in bed-sharing, and yet we know little about the dyadic decision-making process that takes place between couples about infant sleep. 25 Although overnight infant caregiving is conducted mostly by mothers, fathers are often involved in putting infants to sleep and soothing them after nighttime wakening.…”

“… 11 , 14 , 25 , 26 Fathers are involved in bed-sharing, and yet we know little about the dyadic decision-making process that takes place between couples about infant sleep. 25 Although overnight infant caregiving is conducted mostly by mothers, fathers are often involved in putting infants to sleep and soothing them after nighttime wakening. 27 , 28 Furthermore, in an Australian study, mothers reported frequent negotiation of bed-sharing arrangements with the fathers.…”