Cosleeping And Infant Development

Co-Sleeping and Infant Development
Developmental Psychology
1 October 2012

Co-Sleeping and Infant Development
Co-sleeping, or when parents and children share the same sleeping environment, is arelatively retired practice in Western culture, as it has become socially ingrained and acceptable to place infants in an environment of their own to sleep. Around the world, it is customary for amother to sleep with or share her sleeping space with her baby. Although co-sleeping should be practiced carefully, it is largely positive for infant development as it allows for bonding, better sleeppractices, and faster reaction time to baby’s cries. This is relevant to Developmental Psychology as humans are psychologically adapted for close contact during not only daytime hours, but duringthe night as well (Mao et. al., 2004).
Physical contact and stimulation promotes bonding, a very crucial part of infant development. Co-sleeping provides means of physical contact between mother andchild that promotes bonding. Bed sharing, in the evolutionary context, is thought to be conducive towards the maturation of homeostatic regulatory systems (Ball, 2003). In a study comparingco-sleeping infants with solitary sleeping infants, bed sharing infants spent forty percent of the night face-to-face with the mother (Ball, 2003). Close contact involved in bonding is also critical formaintaining the mother’s milk supply during breast feeding. Breast feeding provides a means of bonding and holistic development for baby, and co-sleeping helps prolong the total duration of breastfeeding. For working mothers, especially those who breast feed, bed sharing provides a long period of time for close contact and convenient night-time feedings (Mao et al., 2004).
Children and parentswho co-sleep have many advantages over their solitary sleeping counterparts. Children who co-slept with their parents during their early childhood are more independent than children who slept on their...