Essay Tips- Co-Sleeping Pros & Cons

Co-sleeping can be a controversial topic. There are many articles available online which give information about the benefits of co-sleeping as well as many blogs which are totally against it.

 It is true to have all the facts which will give you an idea of whether to try co-sleeping with your loved ones and see if you can change you’re sleeping habits for the better. In this article, we are going to list down some pros and cons of co-sleeping.

Pros of co-sleeping:

Let’s first have a look at the pros of co-sleeping.

1) Nurtures and comforts your baby:

Many parents who co-sleep with their newborn baby help develop and claim that it leads to less crying or distressed behavior. If we also look at animals most of them sleep together and don’t separate their babies when they are young and vulnerable.

The place of the baby next to the bed of the parent can lessen the baby’s anxiety and it leads to a better quality of sleep. It also reduces disruptive sleep patterns. It can be difficult for a fussy child to get to sleep and some babies wake up immediately and panic that their parents are not nearby.

While on the other hand, a co-sleeping arrangement means you can hear the voice of your baby in the same room and can stir but go back to sleep to their own time.

2) Newborn feels safe:

Some children show the sign of separation anxiety as early as around six or seven months old and you find they might scream when you leave the room.

This is the normal stage of development in which every baby goes through some degree and babies gradually start to understand that people exist when are not nearby. This is called object permanence but co-sleeping is an excellent way to tell babies that parents have not left them forever.

3) Comfortable for breastfeeding:

It can be mentally exhausting and physically disturbing getting up four to five times in the night for breastfeeding. Co-sleeping means that your baby is almost in your arms and you don’t have to get out of bed for breastfeeding.

This helps your baby to get what they want quickly and easily as well as enabling that you are about to get back to bed to sleep afterward. Moreover, there exists a huge difference between getting up, walking around, and staying snuggled under your covers.

The most important thing is that make sure that your baby is completely safe when you sleep. On the other hand, mothers can sometimes fall asleep while breastfeeding their kids. It increases the risk of your baby coming to harm.

4) Helpful for skin to skin contact:

According to experts, skin-to-skin contact with your baby is very helpful and one of the most important things to develop. Skin-to-skin contact can help you breastfeed your kid easily and prevents hypoglycemia and other newborn problems as well. It also promotes brain development and in premature kids, skin-to-skin contact is helpful to help them stabilize.

In newborn kids, their brain craves sensory stimulation and this type of skin-to-skin contact can help the baby grow emotionally and socially.

It also enables you to feel closer to your parents and more able to offer this kind of skin-to-skin contact at points during the night and will give your baby more time with you and also strengthen your bond.

5) Helps to recover faster for mother after giving birth:

Giving birth to a child is a life-changing moment for mothers and can be traumatic also whether it’s the first baby or not. You can leave without the perfect picture birth that you had planned if your little one has a particularly difficult entrance to the world.

No hard and fast rule exists that says co-sleeping is a cure for postnatal depression and you can always contact your health visitor or GP if you believe that you are suffering from symptoms.

If your baby is lying on the bed in another room, then you will find yourself walking a lot more than usual. Other medical necessities and emergency cesareans can leave you practically unable to get out of bed.

It can exacerbate healing wounds and pull stitches. You can limit your activity and get the rest you need by having the baby close by and also make sure your baby is comforted.

6) Bonding with child:

You can’t always afford to give up work and stay with your newborn as many parents know. It means that after paternity or maternity leave you can allow yourself to go back to work and being out of the house for either eight or twelve hours a day. It can also serve as a way too heartbreaking for most people and it may affect your bond you may have with your baby over time.

Co-sleeping can be a way for both you and your baby to feel a closer bond while sleeping. It is difficult to have a bond with children and this extra time with your loved ones is important and valuable.

7) Stops the prolonged crying of newborn baby:

Prolonged crying can be stressful for everyone through the night and especially if you have a partner or children to work long hours. Crying a baby alone is not only harmful to everyone but it can disturb the whole household.

Cons of co-sleeping:

Now let’s switch towards the cons of co-sleeping.

1) Lessens the risks of SIDS:

Sudden Infant death syndrome is one most worrying aspects of new parents and bed-sharing has become more common as authorities are raising the awareness of the best way to keep your baby close. It also reduces the risks of SIDS as far as possible.

2) Disrupt the father and mother relationship:

One of the most harmful effects of co-sleeping is the problems it causes within a relationship. Interruptions from crying babies are not helpful for new parents.

3) Disrupt sleep patterns later on life in time:

Other chronic sleep patterns were found to be more common in babies that have co-slept and those children have co-slept for a shorter time overall and were awake more often than other children.

Bottom-line

Listed above are the pros and cons of co-sleeping.