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Advantages Of Co-Sleeping
When parents allow babies or young kids to sleep in the same room with them, they can respond to the kids' needs more quickly and effectively. This is especially true when the baby is sick. I've encountered many times my baby was wet because of leakage from the diapers (not tugged well or simply overflow). He was not disturbed by the wetness (and coldness), but as a mother, subconsciously I could sense that something was wrong as I touched his body. I could then change him immediately before he wet the whole bed or caught a cold later on. Often, a baby wakes up frequently at night, even though he can sleep through the night. What he wants is maybe some sips of water, a bottle of milk, to be dry again (wet or dirty diapers), or sometimes just the assurance of someone familiar is with him. If parents can attend to the baby's needs immediately, this will help to resettle the baby before he fully awakens. After having baby, no-one can actually fully back to her pre-baby sleeping pattern. We simply don't and can't have that luxury. Instead of making our sleep worse than ever by commuting between our room and the baby's, why not make it a little better by putting the baby sleep just next to us?
When sleeping together, the baby knows that you are there, readily providing him with comfort and other needs. Psychologically, he is comforted by knowing someone close is being there for him, and thus can sleep better. The baby will less likely to wake up often and have longer and better sleep.
Why? because their needs are being attended to faster. Babies don't have to cry out real hard and loud to wake the parents up, wait for the parents to run (or sleep walk) to their room before they are back to sleep again. Yes, some babies sleep right back after the exhausted crying before receiving any help from the parents. But this would also mean that another round of cry would break the quiet night again in the next hour, or minute, until his needs is fulfilled...and often mean until you are like zombie the next morning! Crying is a signal provided by nature that is meant to disturb the parents so that the baby's needs will be met. But prolonged crying is stressful to all family members. Instead of letting the baby crying hard at night in the next room, which surely disturb you and other family members, all you need to do is to pick up the crying baby next to you, fulfill his needs and back to sleep again, both mother and baby...all are happy! And we don't need to be panda (with 2 black eyes) the next day!
This is also true for young kids who often need 'lovey' such as soft toy or blanket to help to sleep. When kids and parents co-sleep, very often they would fall back to sleep even though they have awaken during the night when they see the parents are around. They have fewer nightmares and nighttime disturbances as well. Being with someone close gives the child a feeling of security and of being loved and protected. Sleeping time is thus a pleasant time of closeness. Kids who sleep alone (especially if they don't want to) often consider it a fearful time of separation. Bedtime struggling is then a less significant issue. And a well-rested kid is often a happy kid!
Because babies and young kids sleep better when sharing bed, mothers in turn sleep better, too. Although mothers may get occasional disturbances from the kids that share sleep with them, the duration of waking time is shorter compare to those tending to kids in another room. In fact, mothers who share sleep with their kids awaken less from their sleep. This is because they need not wondering if their kids are alright in another room, need not rise up and walk over to another room to check on a crying baby, etc. The physical closeness of body touching provides the mothers a sense of satisfaction when they know the kids are well.
Many a time fathers are very busy during day time and seldom have much time to be with their kids. Co-sleeping enables fathers who feel guilty of this to feel better about interacting with their kids during the night. Spending quality time together like this can help create a closer and stronger bond between the fathers and kids, and further strengthening their relationships.
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