Does co-sleeping protect kids from obesity?

[ChicagoGranny]

http://www.theinsomniablog.com/the_inso ... sity-.html

[Wonderbeastlett]

Wow what a fascinating read! I have to say there are so many things to consider if your going to co-sleep. I'm not a parent so I don't claim to know tons on parenting. It seems that yes, it could promote safe feeling and bond parents and child but also give them a clingy, needy side to. You want your child to be independent but also have a balance of comfort from you as well.
From my own expierience, I have one sister and she was very sick growing up. She always would cry! So my mom let her sleep in their bed which she did until she was about 8. When mom told her it was time for her grown up bed she would cry and come running into my room late at night. Now I know the article said ages 2 to 6 but my sister was very chubby. She slept with them for a long time and she was overweight.
Now she's in her early twenties and she told my parents she was never moving out or leaving them! Despite the fact she has had a boyfriend for 7 years who has said he wants to marry her. She has gone to college but quit every time because she needs to take care of my parents who are not ill at all!

I guess I think it promotes neediness and clininess. I don't think staying at your parents house is bad but she should want to be out at this age! Although she is now skinnier and not as chubby as she use to be. She does try to maintain her weight. So perhaps my whole theory has gone out the window! Lol

[chunkyfrog]

I think more folks take the route my son has.
They will all fall asleep together watching TV;
but each goes off to his own bed when TV time is over.

[portiemom]

I am a big believer in the family bed! My 18 month old grandson began sleeping in his parents bed directly from the hospital due to some health issues. At 14 months his mom put him in the crib to take a shower and he fell asleep. She remained in a rocking chair in his room folding clothes etc. until he woke up and since that day he has been sleeping in his crib at night without any issues.
He is a secure little boy, he explores, and self soothes, and has confidence in his environment.
I wish there was more positive talk about the family bed, and sure would have liked this experience 43 years ago when I had my children.

[flatag]

I think that parents need to be the adults in their relationship with thier children. Parents need to start good bedtime habits early on in their childs life by having them sleep in their own beds and have a regular routine. Parents who co-sleep are lazy.

As far as protecting kids from obesity - stop feeding them crap! Parents who feed their kids fast food or other crap all the time are lazy.

[Off of my soapbox now.]

[AHI15]

I think that parents need to be the adults in their relationship with thier children. Parents need to start good bedtime habits early on in their childs life by having them sleep in their own beds and have a regular routine. Parents who co-sleep are lazy.

There is culture involved, however. It was just the norm in my wife's home country for her and her sisters to all be piled together on one bed with their mom. I think the brother was in there too until he got in the 6-9 age range.

Where do you think we put the little ones 100000 years ago? In their own little corner of the cave by themselves? Not such a good strategy for ensuring the survival of ones offspring. Hence, I suspect co-sleeping is actually pretty deeply hard wired.

As far as protecting kids from obesity - stop feeding them crap! Parents who feed their kids fast food or other crap all the time are lazy.
[Off of my soapbox now.]

Bingo. No garbage meals in our house.

[BlackSpinner]

http://www.theinsomniablog.com/the_inso ... sity-.html

Nobody in our families co-slept and most of us were skinny as rails as kids. Except my granddaughter who spent a lot of time sharing my daughter's bed.

Kids need their own space and so do parents. Obesity comes from crap food and lack of exercise.

[BlackSpinner]

There is culture involved, however. It was just the norm in my wife's home country for her and her sisters to all be piled together on one bed with their mom. I think the brother was in there too until he got in the 6-9 age range.

Where do you think we put the little ones 100000 years ago? In their own little corner of the cave by themselves? Not such a good strategy for ensuring the survival of ones offspring. Hence, I suspect co-sleeping is actually pretty deeply hard wired.

They had carry cradles, you hung it up to keep the baby off the ground. Just look at Native American artifacts. People slept in the same "room" but each in their own sections in their own sleeping rolls.

[nanwilson]

http://www.theinsomniablog.com/the_inso ... sity-.html

Nobody in our families co-slept and most of us were skinny as rails as kids. Except my granddaughter who spent a lot of time sharing my daughter's bed.

Kids need their own space and so do parents. Obesity comes from crap food and lack of exercise.

Ditto what Blackspinner said.....except none of my kids and grandkids are even remotely obese. They all play sports and are actively involved in their communities. Feed them nourishing food and make sure they get lots of excercise and they will not be obese. Today kids are plunked in front of the tv at an early age and fed "convenience food"... parents have allowed the tv and computer to become babysitters.

[The Choker]

Maybe you have untreated sleep apnea and co-sleeping is very stressful to the child? It could cause weight gain?

We have heard stories about dogs who would not sleep in the same room with their sleep-apneic owners. But when owners started CPAP treatment the dogs started sleeping in the owners' bedrooms.

[kaiasgram]

It would be interesting to read the original research paper. This article did not discuss the sleeping or co-sleeping history of the children prior to age 2. It also did not say anything about whether or for how long the children were breastfeeding. Most co-sleeping infants are also nursing infants. I wonder if it's a history of breastfeeding, not the co-sleeping, that may account for the lowered risk of obesity. In any case, as a developmental specialist I would say that SAFE co-sleeping is a wonderful, healthy practice for infants and their parents especially during the first year -- assuming there is no resentment or conflict between parents about the practice. As someone else pointed out, it is the natural way in most cultures -- it is actually an unnatural practice to put a newborn in isolation, away from the parents, to sleep. There's been some fascinating research by McKenna showing that mothers and infants sleeping together show a kind of biological synchrony, in which the mother's breathing, body temp, heart rate, sleep stages, etc., help to regulate the baby's. In fact, in progressive hospitals, in the neonatal intensive care units "kangaroo care" is encouraged when possible, which is placing the baby on the parent's chest so the baby can benefit from attunement to the parents' biological rhythems (as well as the contact comfort the baby gets).

It is true that it can be a challenge when parents are ready, or feel that the child is ready, to transition the child to their own bed. But it can be done and done well. Co-sleeping by itself does not promote clinginess or over-dependence. Other aspects of parenting can, and I'm sure some of those cases involve co-sleeping, but again it is not the co-sleeping practice itself. The best way to ensure a secure, independent child is to understand and allow that period of healthy dependence during infancy. When babies have that secure base, they are not afraid to go out and explore the world. When we push them too early toward what we think of as independence, they don't get the opportunity to build that secure foundation. Of course sleeping arrangements are not the only determinant of security and self-confidence -- but it's wrong to think that co-sleeping inevitably interferes with the development of security and independence.

[RandyJ]

Don't agree with "co-sleeping" (new age-y term for bringing a newborn into the parents' bed). A potentially dangerous practice, It often seems to be related to a lack of resolve on the part of new parents to allow infants to self soothe. I'm against continuing breast feeding until the kid is in high school as well. The new age-y term for that now is "attachment parenting."

[JohnBFisher]

During the middle ages the church pushed the use of cradles as a method to help parents avoid suffocating their children. Today, both the US Consumer Product Safety Commission and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend against "co-sleeping":

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sl ... eping.html

But I doubt quite seriously that it protects against obesity. Diet and exercise has more to do with that than where the child sleeps.

[kteague]

Can't argue with the safety aspects. I attended the funeral of a child who suffocated beneath his sleeping mother. However, it seems seems barberic to me to take a baby that has slept inside its mother for 9 months and thrust them suddenly into separate sleeping. Maybe a kinder, gentler - yet safe - process.

As far a the lazy aspect, sure there are some parents who are too lazy to parent in the best interest of their children. But I believe more often than not it is a sacrificial decision on the part of parents who are willing to share their bed and have their own sleep disrupted because they believe it is better for their child. Now, if they have OSA, they're probably not doing the kid any favors.

In the days when a family bed was common, children grew up expecting to become independent and accept responsibility at younger ages than now. If co-sleeping were the culprit for dysfunctional families, I think we'd have seen more of it in generations long past. Does it protect them from obesity? I'm not convinced.

[SleepDepraved2]

I think that the breastfeeding aspect is probably what is at work here. Most people who practice attachment parenting also breastfeed.

I breastfed all my kids but couldn't do the cosleeping thing. For one thing, our bedroom is very cold in the winter. With an infant in the bed, you really should not have a lot of covers over you, but in our room you can't do without them.

And my husband is a big guy and I'm not tiny. We have a queen sized bed and there is just enough room for the two of us. I would not have been able to sleep with an infant between us...I would have been hyperaware of the baby all of the time and would not have been able to sleep well.

I also found it very hard to lie down and nurse children. Always got up and sat in a chair in the middle of the night. I often woke up and found myself slumped over the baby, who was peacefully sleeping on the nursing pillow on my lap with my arm draped over them to keep them from rolling off. I finally learned to lay down with my last child, since he woke up in the night longer than the others and I was exhausted by then and couldn't take it anymore. But we put a bed in his room so that I didn't have to bring him into our room. His room is right over the furnace, so it was warm enough to sleep in there without covers.