co sleeping

[sungirltan]

what is the definitive advice/theory on co sleeping?

i am reseraching it for breast feeding peer supporter course :-)

tia

The advice re co sleeping is that it is safest if LO is in a cot in the same room as parents for the first 6 months (reducing cot death risk)
The official stance is to skirt around co sleeping but they dont come out and say to do it! Definitely no sleeping with a baby on the sofa (very high risk of smothering, especially dads) Officially if you must co sleep, no drugs (sedatives) no alcohol, no smoking. Also avoid co sleeping with high risk babies:- low birth weight, premature babies etc. I dont think you will find much official support for co sleeping I'm afraid, only 'if you must - do this'.

The last time I looked there didn't appear to be any increased risk of cot death provided the other high risk activities were avoided. There is lots of anecdotal advice regarding improved breastfeeding, sleeping etc.

I co slept with both mine and they lived to tell the tale! I was reading all this recently but can't remember where, but its pretty standard along those lines, but I dont think you will find HVs recommending it only tolerating the mothers choice.

thanks weak, i have co slept with dd on and off since she was born. have been researching it tonight and wish i'd read more when i was pregnant and realised all this nagging about getting them in their own beds to make them independent is a load of guff :-)

lenin - i found the thread - brilliant stuff - thank you so much for the lead - my god theres alot of reading for this course!

thank you again

its frustrating - i have read about half the thread. it seems like the whole thing is so inconclusive about co sleeping because there is less research on co sleeping on its own

There will always be issue with testing practices that may or may not increase the chances of cotdeath.

DS tend to fall asleep while BF and then gets passed onto me for the night. In the cot he'll/we'll get a 3 hour stretch of sleep. With him on my chest he can go through the night with only minor peeps(plus a feed).

As a species we've survived this long. :o