This is a story that benefited me as a parent. I
co-slept with my daughters after they became three months. This is natural in
Japan because we think close attachment between a mother and a baby helps the
baby to become stable and satisfied so that he or she can become independent
sooner and considerate of others. However, I felt that I was doing something
wrong in the US. because I knew a lot of people believe that co-sleeping is a bad idea, is dangerous or is
spoiling a child. When I read a research article that explained that different
cultures have different opinions about co-sleeping and a lot of them are
positive, I got free from the anxiety and guilty feeling, and became confident with
what I was providing my children by co-sleeping. I tried to find the original article I read
but I couldn’t find it. However, The
Natural Children Project (http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/tami_breazeale.html)
introduces research that show children whose mothers co-sleep develop stronger
secure attachment and says “[c]osleeping is the cultural norm for approximately
90% of the world's population”(Breazeale, 2001, para. 3).
Reference
Breazeale, E. Tami.(2001).
Cosleeping. Retrieved on May 18, 2012, from http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/tami_breazeale.html
Aya,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. I think that is a great topic because many people have different views on co-sleeping. It is good to see that there are positive effects of co-sleeping because many of my friends and family practice it.
Aya,
ReplyDeleteYou provided a very interesting and highly debated topic, especially with this week's Time Magazine cover story that addresses the topic of co-sleeping. It is good to get the perspective of someone who has actually experienced it rather than just an outsider's opinion. Thank you for sharing!
Aya,
ReplyDeleteThanks for a different perspective on co-sleeping. Its always great to get a cultural perspective on topics within the early childhood field. As a social worker, we encourage parents to not sleep with their children especially infants to reduce the number of suffocation and/or death incidents.