The Secrets of the Co-sleeper

Japanese babies sleep between their parents. Their position symbolizes a river between two banks.

This picturesque view of co-sleeping reveals the intimacy between parents and their offspring and how co-sleeping creates a family unit. In contrast, modern Western societies emphasize the need for independence and individuality. As such, we are used to putting the baby to sleep in his own bed, in his own room. Even if we are told by the health visitors that it is much better to keep a baby nearby, in your own room in a separate bed, we are eager to find “excuses” such as “He is so noisy at night”, “I have no privacy” etc. in order to place him back into his own cot bed in a different room.

Sleeping in a single bed, away from the parents and/or siblings is a modern phenomenon, no older than 200 years. For thousands of years prior we co-sleept with our parents, our siblings and family. The modern ways of living are ruled by individuality and independence which in turn create a society of increased anti social behaviour and loneliness loneliness.

Anthropologist James McKenna conducted research in order to find out the truth about co-sleepers. He found that when a baby sleeps with his mother the pattern of brain wave activity, heart rate, muscle movement and breathing are astonishingly similar in both. During the sleep mother and baby exhibit a deep bond. Their experience of sleep is mutual as they share the same sleep pattern. In fact, it has been suggested that sleeping close to the mother helps the baby “learn” how to sleep safely explaining why the sleep pattern of both are so in sync.

Unfortunately, today’s perception of sleeping with the parents is understood to create an emotional dependence which is regarded as a negative trait within the human development…http://www.babysbest.co.uk/Articles/The-Secrets-of-the-Co-Sleeper/07-01-08/27/