Co-Sleeping Is A Trendy ‘New Parenting Fad’ That Could ‘Kill Your Baby!’ According To Dumb Article

When my babies were babies, I practiced a parenting style I like to term “Super Exhausted Breastfeeding And Collapsing Into Bed With My Babies” Style. I co-slept with all of my kids. I knew the risks involved. I took many precautions. I never used a ton of pillows or heavy duvets and I never drank or did drugs or any of the other things you aren’t supposed to do when sharing a bed with an infant. I am a light sleeper, and the second any of my kids even quietly cooed in their sleep I woke up. It worked really well for me. My main reason for deciding to share a bed with my babies is because I am lazy. I knew I didn’t want to wander over to a separate crib or down the hall to a nursery to get them for nursing. I also loved being close to them.

For REALS Headline:

SIDS is a horrible thing and my heart breaks for any parent who has lost a child this way. I know that sharing a bed with a baby can increase the chances of SIDS, even though some studies say that co-sleeping reduces the likelihood of a baby dying this way. What I don’t agree with is alarmist news articles like this one published today in the Daily Mail that pretty much states any parents who bring their babies into their bed will more than likely kill them:

The comprehensive review – compiled with data from five previous studies and after examining nearly 1,500 cases of SIDS – revealed that an estimated 88 per cent of deaths that occurred while a child slept with their parents would not have happened if the baby had not been bed-sharing.

And then the article goes on to say:

This is, perhaps, due to the popularity of trendy ‘attachment parenting’, as espoused by psychologists such as Penelope Leach and celebrity mothers from Angelina Jolie to Heidi Klum. It encourages mothers to feed their babies on demand and never let them out of their sight.

The ‘breastapo’ also has a case to answer: pressure on women to breastfeed has led to a huge rise in co-sleeping, with 80 per cent of mothers succumbing to it.

Trendy attachment parenting! Trendy trendy even though it has been around for a gazillion years! Plus, they stole “breastapo” from me, I just know it.

Moms don’t SUCCUMB to breastfeeding or attachment parenting or co-sleeping because Heidi Klum does it. We parent this way because we feel it is what’s best for our babies, or in my case, because I am really lazy. I held my kids a lot because I wanted to, and I like being held so I assumed tiny humans must like it too. The article then contradicts itself, and discusses how Japan has the lowest rate of SIDS in the world, and how Japanese moms usually co-sleep and has quotes from a few other experts on the safety of co-sleeping. BUT THEN!!! It goes on to say that co-sleeping means parents don’t have sex:

And what of the husbands in this arrangement? Co-sleeping inevitably creates an added barrier to spousal relations which are often already strained by a newborn.

Listen, I don’t wanna tell the Daily Mail how to get all freaky but they need to realize that couples can have sex places other than in the bed with a baby sleeping in it. Or couples can decide they wanna have sex and put the baby in the crib while they are having sex and then get the baby when it’s time for sleep. If co-sleeping messes up your sex life than how did I end up having three kids?

Parents need to research all their options and decide that is best when it comes to infant sleeping arrangements. There are plenty of safety measures most parents who decide to co-sleep take in order to make their bed safe for baby. Parents are actually really smart people, and I think the majority of those that do co-sleep probably read a mess of parenting books and articles about it in order to do it. There is a ton of conflicting information out there regarding co-sleeping and SIDS, and it’s up to parents to research and decide for themselves. Not a news article that makes attachment parenting out to be some hot new trend like what lipstick shades will be IN for fall.

(Image: GoodMood Photo/shutterstock)