Sleeping in the Same Bed

The Breastfeeding Co-sleeping Connection

By Gwen Morrison

Breastfeeding provides such closeness between mother and child that it encourages calmness, and babies will often settle more quickly once awakened for a nighttime feeding.

"I breastfed both of my kids," says Chris Sofge of Harrogate, England. "With my first one, we had a bassinet set up next to our bed so I could just pick her up and feed her. So often I just fell asleep while she nursed, and soon we all ended up sleeping together. It was less fuss in the middle of the night, and I got better sleep. I think she did too."

"Human children are designed to be sleeping with their parents," says Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D., an associate professor of anthropology and nutrition at Texas A & M University. "The sense of touch is the most important sense to primates. The expected pattern is for mother and child to sleep together and for the child to be able to nurse whenever they want during the night."

Dettwyler reminds parents that normal, healthy breast-fed and co-sleeping children do not sleep through the night. She is a firm believer that parents need to dispel the myth of needing eight hours of uninterrupted sleep when children are infants. Parents should instead view these nighttime interactions as precious and fleeting.

Before the 19th century, most infants slept in close contact with their mothers usually in the same bed and had frequent nighttime feedings. In many cultures, this is still the norm for babies and parents.

Lyn Scazafabo, R.N., IBCLC, is a lactation consultant for the Cooper Health System in Camden, N.J., where she runs the Breastfeeding Resource Center. She is also the mother of five breast-fed children and a strong advocate for co-sleeping while breastfeeding. "When you share the bed, there is very little disruption," she says. "You snuggle the baby next to you and then nicely fall back to sleep. It makes breastfeeding much easier because the baby can feed whenever he wants without causing too much disturbance to Mother's sleep."

Want to see more?

• Bedtime or Breast Time?
• The Social Myths of Breastfeeding
• Midnight Nursings
• Talk about it!