Where Will the Baby Sleep? Attitudes and Practices of New and Experienced Parents Regarding Cosleeping with Their Newborn Infants

Abstract

An evolutionary perspective on human infant sleep physiology suggests that parent-infant cosleeping, practiced under safe conditions, might be beneficial to both mothers and infants. However, cosleeping is not part of mainstream parenting ideology in the United States or the United Kingdom, and little evidence is available to indicate whether, and under what circumstances, parents sleep with their newborn infants. We present data from an anthropological investigation into the practices and attitudes of new and experienced parents of newborn infants regarding parent-infant sleeping arrangements in a community in the northeast of England. Despite not having contemplated cosleeping prior to the birth, new parents in our sample found it to be a convenient nighttime caregiving strategy, and one which was practiced regularly. Infants slept with both their parents, some being habitual all-night cosleepers, but commonly beginning the night in a cnb and sleeping with their parents for several hours following the early morning feed, [infant sleep, newborn, cosleeping, new parents\

Why babies should never sleep alone: A review of the co-sleeping controversy in relation to SIDS, bedsharing and breast feeding

“…The authors found that breast feeders were three times more likely to bedshare and that their data did not link bedsharing to risk of infant death. 5,7 In northern England, Ball et al 4 found that they would have missed half of the routine co-sleepers (bedsharers) had the researchers not asked if the baby was moved or relocated to sleep in a different location at some point in the night! They describe why working class parents in North Tees, England changed their sleeping arrangements from crib to bedsharing.…”

“…4,5 One recent survey in the United States found that during the 1990s the numbers of mothers sharing their bed with their infants for part or all of the night doubled and may have reached as many as 50%. 6 That same survey involving over 10 000 families revealed that breast feeding mothers were three times more likely than bottle feeding mothers to bedshare.…”

“…Mothers report less infant crying, more maternal and infant sleep and increased milk supply due to the increased frequency of night-time breast feeding that close contact facilitates. 4,5,9,13,14,[16][17][18] Polysomnographic studies comparing exclusively breast feeding, bedsharing and solitary sleeping mothers show that even in the deepest stages of sleep, mothers aroused 30% more frequently when they bedshared. That a high fraction ($1/2) of maternal arousals overlaps the infant's arousals and about two-thirds of those times, the infant clearly aroused first suggests a relatively high responsivity on the part of the mother.…”

Exploring Maternal Perceptions of Infant Sleep and Feeding Method Among Mothers in the United Kingdom: A Qualitative Focus Group Study

“…The predominant view is that formula feeding promotes infant sleep while breastfed infants are too demanding, feed too frequently, and do not allow their mothers sufficient sleep through the night (Ball, Hooker, & Kelly, 1999;Brown & Harries, 2015). In both the UK and the US, many parents give night-waking as the reason they switched to formula (Douglas & Hill, 2013) and the idea that feeding the infant formula before bed will help the whole family to sleep better is widely accepted (Rosen, 2008).…”

Parent-infant bed-sharing behavior

“…An anthropological perspective on infant sleep biology, including the evolutionary underpinnings and developmental benefits of mother-infant co-sleeping, have been described in numerous publications by McKenna and colleagues (McKenna, Mosko et al 1990;McKenna, Thoman et al 1993); Mosko et al 1997) and those of several other biological anthropologists ( Ball 2002( Ball , 2003Ball et al 1999Ball et al , 2000Hrdy 2000;Small 1992Small , 1998Trevathan and McKenna 1994). The behavioural and polysomnographic studies reported by McKenna, Mosko, and colleagues throughout the nineties supported the logical conclusion derived from physiological, evolutionary, historical, psychological and crosscultural data, that sleeping in close proximity to its mother ought to be in an infant"s best interests.…”