By Donna Sinnott Courtesy of Nursing Mother News
 The birth of a baby is truly a wonderful mystery of life.
The
birthing process hasn't changed much over the last 5000+ years. In
the beginning, before there were clocks and schedules, babies were
always breastfed by mom, on demand, day and night. Only in the last
200 years, cultures began adding on more rooms, and only in the last
10 years or so, have we seen the rise of "sleep training"
methods.
In a survey of 172 societies, all infants in all cultures do some
co-sleeping at night, even of only for a few hours. The U.S.
consistently stands out as the only society in which babies are
routinely placed in their own beds and in their own rooms. But, for
many breastfed babies, night waking is normal and necessary. Night
waking is as normal as co-sleeping with your child in almost
every culture, except the United States.
In some Western cultures, such as the United States, artificial
feeding is a norm and the expectations are different. Babies are
expected to sleep for long stretches alone, often in a separate room,
by the time they are three or four month old. This is an arrangement
that has grown over the last 200 years because of cultural reasons,
not out of biological appropriateness. In almost all cultures around
the globe, mothers and babies sleep close to each other at night for
many reasons, mainly so that the baby can be nursed with less
disruption of sleep. Parents in these cultures expect babies to wake
frequently to nurse at night until they have matured enough to
naturally outgrow this behavior, a process that may take years. A
wakeful baby - even a wakeful older baby or toddler - is not
considered unusual or a problem in these cultures.
 Besides the practical reasons of co-sleeping, science is now learning
that sleeping with mom is a biological need. Infants don't develop
the ability to easily navigate types of breathing until they are at
least three or four months old. James McKenna, Professor of
Anthropology, has published many studies that provide evidence that
when mother and baby sleep together, the mother's breathing and
movement affect the baby's breathing and arousal patterns. Babies
get more practice at the transitions from one kind of breathing to
another. Also, mothers and their breastfed babies can then develop the
same sleep cycles which encourages less disruption to sleep for all.
Breastfeeding moms can't get any deep sleep anyway: Lactation women
are hormonally programmed not to have the fourth and deepest sleep
cycle, possibly to be able to tune in to the waking cycles of our
babies.
So, how could we Americans cope with such a change in our cultural
norm? A working mom or a stay-at-home mom may be asking, "I need
my sleep. How will I function well?" Well, there are many
alternatives to the usual sleeping arrangements that can make night
nursing a lot easier.
- The baby's crib (or bedside co-sleeper) can be attached to the
parents' bed in a "side car" arrangement (with one side
open).
- A mattress could be put on the floor in the baby's room or in
the parents' room so mom can lie down and sleep while nursing the
baby back to sleep.
- A bed rail can be used (on that floor mattress) or on the parents'
bed even if baby simply sleeps in their bed part of the night.
- Mom can wake and feed the baby every two to three hours in the day
if she is constantly nursing at night.
- Wake and feed your baby just before you go to sleep so you can get
a longer sleep cycle before the baby wakes again.
Like many parenting decisions, there are pros and cons to developing a
co-sleeping arrangement. A family bed can help prevent Sudden Infant
Death Syndrome (SIDS), it matches breathing, matches body temperature
and makes mom more aware if something is wrong. Co-sleeping creates
less disruption to sleep and continues to give nourishment and comfort
throughout the night hours. A family bed can help make the
necessary night nursings easier and reconnect a family after a long
day.
Yes, there are cons to a family bed. It can be harder for mom to
settle in due to squirming and diapers crinkling. It can create less
privacy, making it harder to turn in later or get up earlier. A family
bed can also create ongoing doubts such as "Am I doing the right
thing?" or "When should it end?"
Just remember, no matter what the sleeping arrangements are in your
home, where mom and baby sleep is a personal, parenting decision that
should be made based upon what is best for your baby, you and your
family. Like the first of many parenting decisions, trust yourself
when making whatever choice is best for you and your family. Remember,
night waking for nourishment and comfort is often a biological need
and not a choice to the infant. In the words of Dr. Sears, author of
"Nighttime Parenting" and other books, "In the first
few months, the infant's needs are the highest, but his ability to
communicate those needs is the lowest."
References:
"Nighttime Parenting" Sears
"Three in a Bed" Jackson
"The Breastfeeding Answer Book" Mohrbacher and Stock
"Mothering" magazine Nov/Dec 1998
Special thanks to Jo Matey
Breastfeeding.com thanks Donna Sinnott for allowing
us to reprint her article.
This article originally appeared in Nursing Mother News, a publication
of Nursing Mothers Alliance. Nursing Mothers Alliance is an all
volunteer, non-profit organization that supports nursing mothers in
the Philadelphia area and offers training courses. The group can be contacted at
their warmline at (610) 251-9405 or email Donna Sinnott at corikyle@aol.com
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