While she’s always been unafraid of raising the ever-topical talking point of co-sleeping with her kids, radio and television personality Chrissie Swan’s argument may have just been backed up by breaking new research.
The American Academy of Pediatrics now suggests that by sleeping in the same room as your baby, you are, in fact, reducing the risk of them dying from sudden infant syndrome (SIDs) as well as other types of sleep-related infant deaths, like suffocation.
Researchers, who presented their findings in a new policy statement earlier this week, believe that parents who sleep in the same room as their child for at least the first six months (preferably one year) of their life, shave down their risk of SIDs by as much as 50 per cent.
However, what the Academy’s latest policy does encourage is that parents steer away from sleeping in the same bed as their babies (specifically between from when they’re born until they’re one).
Contrary to this recommendation, Chrissie, who is mum to Leo, 10, Kit, five, and three-year-old Peggy, continues to advocate for parents who want to sleep in the same bed as their children.
‘Waking up with them next to me and watching them as they sleep in, and feeling their warm little bodies and bony knees in bed at night next to mine is honestly one of my life’s greatest joys,” 42-year-old wrote on her official Facebook page earlier this week.
“I understand if it’s not for you. Plenty of things aren’t for me! But this one is and it has been the loveliest and most unexpected reward of motherhood for me.”
Co-sleeping: the parenting topic that everyone’s got an opinion on…
The moment you head home after baby, and the breastfeeding question has already been asked, new parents are asked about “the sleeping arrangements” – and, alas, as a new parent, it’s not as saucy as it sounds.
People want to know if your baby is:
a) Sleeping in your room.
b) If so, sleeping in your bed.
c) Sleeping in their own room.
And all of these people asking this question will have a point of view about where your baby should be sleeping – and the in-room and the own-room people will never ever agree with each other.
This new research is interesting as it supports that whole concept of “rooming in”, but not bed-sharing. And, hey, if it saves babies’ lives, then it’s great.
But where a baby sleeps is a question only their parents can answer. Some parents are comforted by hearing their babies gurgles and snuffling during the night, some can’t sleep with it.
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