MOMPROVEMENT

Co-Sleeping With Your Infant – A Personal Decision

Posted by momprovement on February 4, 2010

Crib or Co-Sleep?

I thought I was done with the whole “where does your baby sleep” debate.  I purchased a crib for my oldest, which I believe made a nice decoration for the nursery, although it was never used.  From day one, she slept in bed with us.  With my other two children, we never even bothered to get it out.  And then, just six months ago, we decided that our family was as large as it was going to get and so we donated or sold every single piece of baby equipment and clothing that we had. 

Big Mistake!

Now, here I am four months pregnant with our fourth child, and I’m starting to get “those looks” again when people make offers of cribs or tell us where they saw a good one that we should buy.  I politely say “well, thank you, but we’ve never used a crib and we don’t plan to with this baby either.”

My pediatrition at the time preferred the crib method, but was supportive of my decision to co-sleep.  She truly believed that, in general,  moms know what is best for their kids and was willing to let me co-sleep without a single lecture or “helpful suggestion.”

So recently, when I was looing in to the debate once again, I was pleased to read Dr. Sears’ research and information in this area:

“If the incidence of SIDS is dramatically higher in crib versus a parent’s bed, and because the cases of accidental smothering and entrapment are only 1.5% of the total SIDS cases, then sleeping with a baby in your bed would be far safer than putting baby in a crib.

The answer is not to tell parents they shouldn’t sleep with their baby, but rather to educate them on how to sleep with their infants safely.” (From AskDrSears.Com)

And I couldn’t agree more.  Where I put mychild to sleep, whether in a crib or in my bed shouldn’t matter to anyone else as long as I take the appropriate precautions to protect my child. 

Protecting Your Baby If You Co-Sleep

This time around, since we have 3 potential “middle of the night” visitors from the baby’s siblings, we are going to invest in one of those baby co-sleepers  just to help define the baby’s space and keep stray blankets and pillows away.  But I’m glad that there is finally some scientific research and  support for my position – the last thing I need with four young children is controversy about how we sleep.  I’m just lucky if I can get in any sleep at all!

So did you co-sleep with your baby?  What steps did you take to ensure your baby’s safety?