Understanding co-sleeping- Co-sleeping is a practice of child sleeping together with parents.
This topic of co-sleeping has always been very controversial between the people.
Some of them think that co-sleeping is right and very natural way to raise a child, bringing a secure attachment between the child and the parents’ along with making a stronger bond.
While some people find co-sleeping risky, ridiculous and dangerous, which they do not want for their family.
Finding a correct answer to this is tough. Let’s try and understand few things to understand co-sleeping better.
So there has always been a mix result of the surveys which have been made on the topic of co-sleeping.
There have been families who have reported that their babies were not able to sleep properly or had a sound sleep because of their parents sleeping nearby while others reported that their child slept better together with them rather than making the child sleep in the crib.
The topic of co-sleeping however is personal. It is the family who has to decide to opt for co-sleeping or not, making sure that the child sleeps well which ultimately results in the child’s good health.
Also, the spouse should have good understandings and careful thinking as to co-sleeping is right for their family or not.
So, when it comes to deciding co-sleeping there are few questions that you can ask to yourselves that will make the decision better. They are:
- What is the nature of spouse? Do we both or any one of more tend to stay active during sleeping?
- Is co-sleeping a habit of the family or we will start it because you strongly believe in the same?
- Can we remain quiet and sleep after the child sleeps or we have a habit of sleeping late and watching something late night?
- Will we able to feed child often during the night or it will be difficult for us doing the same?
- Do we agree to get into the bed only when our child does to ensure the safety of the child?
- Does sleeping next to the child allow us to feel more connected to the child? Especially for the working parents?
After this, Let us take a look to the advantages and the disadvantages of Co-sleeping.
ADVANTAGES:
- Ensures that the child is close and safe whenever parents wake up in middle of the night.
- Sleeping together makes sure the child has immediate support on any sleep related problem.
- Enjoying sound sleep because parents do not have to get up and walk to child if there is any night waking.
- Increased time spending with the child and also better sleep for the parents as well.
DISADVANTAGES:
- If the child is restless then parents may not be able to sleep properly.
- Sleeping improperly could lead to frustration and angriness and parents might end up sleeping in different rooms
- The sleep cycle of an adult and children are different so it can lead to a problem.
- Parents have to sacrifice a lot to their evening activities as children have an early bed time.
- Privacy of the parents might be restricted.
- There is an increased chances of the child to get affected from SIDS and other related causes.
So, the decision of co-sleeping is purely personal and has nothing to do with the other’s experiences or their thoughts for the same. It has to be purely your family or your mutual understandings to opt for co-sleeping or not and the better results of the same.