Thursday, December 10, 2009

Shunning the Family Bed. Who Benefits Most?

From Mercola.com

According to Dr. Jay Gordon, babies sleeping on a safe surface with sober, nonsmoking parents respond to their parents, and the parents respond to them. The chance of SIDS occurring in this situation are close to zero. Babies in a crib or in a room away from their parents, on the other hand, will breastfeed less and are at greater risk of infections, including life-threatening ones.

The medical profession, as it often does, is approaching the entire idea of the family bed backward. A baby in the same bed with his or her parents is surrounded by the best possible surveillance and safety system. It must be the responsibility of the manufacturers and proponents of cribs and separated sleep to prove that such disruption is safe, not the other way around.

Newborn babies breathe in irregular rhythms and even stop breathing for a few seconds at a time. To put it simply, they are not designed to sleep alone.

Read the Rest of the Article Here

Our babies pretty much sleep with us when they are newborns. What do the rest of you do? Just curious. Not trying to start a big debate or anything.

11 comments:

Party of Eleven said...

Hi Rob~We also let our babies sleep with us. I love it when they are newborns, and they just end up staying until the next baby is born. Right now we have our 14 mo. old between us all night, with our 4 and 2 year old coming in at some point throughout the night as well.

Roger Miller said...

Ours sleep in a cradle at the foot of our bed, and after 3 or 4 months they move into a crib in a seperate room.

Mike in CT said...

Our babies have all slept in our bed as newborns, as my wife breastfed. But they've all gone to the crib after a few months.

Maurisa said...

Over the years we progressed to a family bed scenario. It was the only way to guarantee I'd get any sleep whatsoever. Nursing kiddos had easy access and we could all sleep right through it.

Right now our three year old is in our bed. . .that's due to the lack of a younger sibling to kick him out of there. If one doesn't show up here pretty soon, our youngest will be getting the boot this spring.

We've always been a bit countercultural and controversial. It works for our family, but we don't expect it to work for everyone else.

Anonymous said...

Newborns in bed with us. We purchased a three sided box with 3 to 4 inch high sides that was designed to protect the baby from an adult who accidentally rolls over.

Mary @ Cheerios said...

Hey Rob, each is different-2 slept in our bed till about a year; 1 absolutely could not b/c he spit up terribly; and the other 3 were in bassinets next to me till about 5 months then to a crib. I really do not like to share the bed-I cannot sleep at all; so it takes a lot for me to let them.
So, how long to you have your baby in bed w/ you and wife???
God bless!
Mary

Anonymous said...

We keep our babies in bed with us too until we can keep them in a crib in another room. I usually have the portacrib in our room too until the baby seems to big for it. We have the bed follies going on here all the time- people migrate from bed to bed. My kids are not great sleepers until about age six or so- then they sleep like rocks for 10 hours or so, or they would if I let them. But none of them want to go to bed by 8 pm, however!
I want to move to Maryland!No one here nurses their babies and all their kids sleep through the night and I just don't fit in!
( did you get the number of that waaaahhmbulance?)

Anna B. said...

ours slept with us as newborns and a crib next to the bed, after 6 months they moved into their own room.

Jenny said...

Our babies sleep with us or in a portacrib set up by the bed for the first several months. Around 6 months, we move them to a crib, which is usually in a room with at least one other kid.

MamaMidwife said...

1st baby when I was 19 - I did what "they" told me. Had him in a crib, in another room, and I got no sleep. I had a monitor in his face and if he shifted a millimeter I was running down the hall to nurse him. No wonder I was so tired.

Fast forward 6 years, baby #2. Read more books. Found a midwife. Checked out "attachment parenting" (what was this wierdo crap, I thought). Tried to tell myself I'd put the baby in a crib. When she was 3 weeks old, we donated the crib to a pregnancy crsis center. She is 3 and still is with us.

Baby #3 is 1 and sleeps with us too.

Sometimes, it sucks. But most of the time it's great. My 1 year old can nurse when he wants and my 3 year old gets the closeness she needs.

I've suggested to the hubby that we move the 3 year old to a bed on the floor. He says, "She's not ready." I think HE'S not ready. (He has 2 older children from a prior marriage. Slept with #1 and I think #2 there slept with her big sis.)

I think whatever gives you and your baby sleep is good. I do personally believe, from experience, that they kiddos seem to sleep better with SOMEONE, parent or sibling. Alone, they always seem to wake up and cry.

laurazim said...

Babies sleep with us as long as they need to, which is usually about 4 or 5 months. Then we side-car the crib--that is, one side panel is off, and the crib is butted up against my side of the bed. We have a body pillow crammed into the gap to close it securely, and both the crib and bed are far too heavy to drift apart. Anyway, that makes a good bit more room, so that when the little one needs to nurse, I can just reach over and pull her to me, rather than having to get up to cross the room to get her. It sure makes for better sleep! She does crawl over sometimes just to snuggle, and I would take that any day over having her cry because she's lonely. When she's old enough to not need me so much in the night, she'll share a bed with an older sibling.