Does co-sleeping really cause negative developmental effects?

[purpledaze24]

I’m a part-time single parent to a 4-year-old. I only have him half of the week as my ex and I do 50/50. We’re super close and I’ve Co-slept with him since he was about 18 months. We both love Co-sleeping. Going to sleep cuddled up to his warm little body is the best, and it’s extra important to me as I spend half the week away from him. I’ve been seeing/reading a lot recently though that says Co-sleeping can have negative effects in the long-term, like over-dependence on the parent, struggling to become independent, anxiety etc. I plan to do it for as long as he wants to (but will stop before puberty). I’m just wondering if anyone with older kids has Co-slept and seen any of the negative effects I mentioned? (Or any others)? Thanks :)

We co slept. DD is in secondary now and she still ends up in my bed every now and then. She had no issues going to sleepovers, residentials or transitioning to secondary. She's fine socially and is fairly independent for her age.

Thank you all (almost all!) for your encouraging replies. The stuff I read was just online from googling it, one was a Huffington Post article I think and can’t remember where the others came from
but it did seem to pop up in multiple places in online articles. However I’d rather trust my own intuition about my child than what I read online (and the helpful real-life examples you guys have given here) and also the fact that it’s so commonplace in almost everywhere other than the west.

To whoever said it’s a SIDS risk and I’m being sex deprived! - he slept in his own cot until he was nearly 2, at which time he kept climbing out of his cot and getting into my bed and it just worked for both of us so we stuck with it. He has his own room and his own bed in there. I ask him regularly if he’d like to start sleeping in his big boy bed, he always says no. As for being sex deprived - if you actually read my post, I’m single so I’m sex deprived anyway but that’s not because I’m Co-sleeping with my son!

Someone (can’t remember who sorry) also said there was something wrong with cuddling up to him when we go to sleep? What is wrong with that? He’s a 4-year-old and he asks me to cuddle him. If I turn over and go to the other side of the bed (which tbh I’d rather do as I’d get to sleep easier) he comes and tries to be the big spoon with his tiny arms, which obviously doesn’t work! So I turn over and cuddle him and he’s asleep in minutes (then I do often extract him from my arms and turn over!) but sometimes it’s nice to cuddle him. There is nothing wrong with that