Blog Posts 1–5, based on the United States of America Department of the Army Field Manual: Holistic Healing and Fitness, describe what really matters for your child’s sleep. If sleep is an important enough topic for national defense than surely sleep should be considered a serious topic for parenting!
Bed-sharing means that the mother and her baby are sleeping together in the bed; ‘co-sleeping’ is another term describing this practice. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) discourages this practice because of the increased risk of Sudden Unexpected Death in Infancy (SUDI) formerly known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Nevertheless, bed-sharing is practiced by many mothers throughout the world. Bed-sharing is expected and culturally acceptable in some countries. Bed-sharing is thought by some to enhance breast-feeding, mother-infant bonding, or to be more ‘natural’ or ‘evolutionarily meaningful’.
A 2023 paper describes how the Scottish Government has recently changed their recommendations regarding bed-sharing. Previously, it was the same as the AAP recommendation. But “The Scottish Government now recommends avoidance of bed-sharing only if additional hazards are present such as parental smoking, alcohol, or drug use or sleeping on a sofa.”
This new paper explain in detail why this concept of not having “additional hazards” makes bed-sharing safe is wrong and will cause avoidable infant deaths.
If you are inclined to practice bed-sharing, please look at the following Blog Posts:
