The Debate About Having Your Infant Sleep in Your Bed - The Benefits and Dangers

When you're making due with very little rest a night due to a screaming baby, you may be moved to put him or her in bed next to you. Increased rest for you and the baby right? Seems like an easy call to make. However, visions of inadvertently hurting your baby may make the decision a bit more difficult. In the tricky decision to either co-sleep (sleep with your baby) or put the little one in his or her crib, what is the right thing to do? With parents on both sides of the crib of this heated debate, one thing is for sure-there are no easy answers. Moms and dads ought to weigh in the pros and cons of sharing their bed with their baby and then choose what's correct for them and their little one.


Let's start with the pitfalls. Here are some cons for sharing your bed with your infant:

1. Immediate answer could cause a coming problem. The Mayo Clinic says that "bed sharing" makes it tricky for babies to get to sleep on their own. So while you might be temporarily thankful to get your infant asleep with ease, you might have issues later on with getting them contented in their crib.

2. Additional potential risks. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, parents shouldn't sleep with baby, although the risk for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS is debatable. In fact, they 'recommend against having newborns sleep in grown up beds at any time.

3. Limited intimacy with partner. You might feel closer to baby but not so much with your loved one since you actually may be laying the baby in between you. With your baby in your bed, you are surely sacrificing possible private time with your loved one.

If you elect not to share your bed with your little one but are still experiencing trouble putting him or her to bed at night, you can try other sleep strategies like letting your baby to cry him or herself to sleep, come up with a bedtime habit or try the Ferber sleep method. This involves laying your baby down although they are still awake but sleepy. Or, you could put the baby's bed near your bed. That way you save some disturbance having to make your way to the nursery.

Here I've listed some of the positives for sharing your bed with your little dears:

1. Additional bonding time. Sharing the bed with your baby is a wonderful way to spend more hours getting close to baby.*

2. It takes less effort. It is convenient to be closer to baby, especially when you are breastfeeding.

3. It is reassuring for baby. Infants who sleep near mothers may sleep better and cry less.

Letting your newborn share a bed with you or not is a choice only you can make. If reading the pros of sleeping with baby makes you eager to try it, then keep in mind to be as safe as you can by considering these thoughts: be certain to put baby on her or his back, do not drink alcohol or take medicine that will make you drowsy, and put up sufficient barriers, such as two adults, and not cushions, to prevent baby from falling off the bed.


A professional author on topics baby and nuptials, Criss White has composed lots of articles. For other baby related tips, visit our Baby Shower Ideas blog (http://blog.mybabyshowerfavors.com).