Co-Sleeping vs Solitary-Sleeping

Working with infants, I hear all the different options parent choose for their child’s sleep.  These options include solitary sleep (a child sleeping alone in a crib), and co-sleeping.  Co-sleeping can be any number of things.  There are 3-sided cribs called co-sleepers that sit up against the side of the parents bed so baby is safe, but only an arm’s length away from mom.  There is also co-sleeping that involves actually allowing the infant to sleep in the bed with the parents (this is highly unsafe and I do not recommend it). 

Co-Sleeper

 My best experiences with infants and their sleep have been with parents who use solitary-sleep methods (a child sleeping alone in his or her crib).  This is not to say that there aren’t benefits to co-sleeping.  Co-sleeping provides great benefits to the parents, especially the mother if she is nursing, as well as benefits to the baby having mother very close.  This type of sleeping can be very helpful to the mental state of mom’s with babies that wake frequently in the night to feed.  My most memorable experience with a family that used a co-sleeper, was centered around the child’s inability to nap.  We came to realize that the child was sleeping in a co-sleeper at home, and was used to having someone next to her at all times.  This affected her napping at day care in a negative manner. 

Along the lines of my research project, I found a research article that compares the sleep of co-sleeping and solitary-sleeping infants (Mao, Burnham, Goodlin-Jones, Gaylor, & Anders, 2004).  They analyzed the sleeping and waking patterns of infants 3-15 months old in both settings.  What they found did not surprise me.  They found that infants who used solitary-sleeping methods spent more time asleep AND woke up fewer times during the night than co-sleeping infants. 

This article is exciting to me because it gives me research to back up what I believe.  I plan on printing a few copies of this article and adding them to a binder of resources for parents that I keep in my room. 

Reference:

Mao, A., Burnham, M. M., Goodlin-Jones, B. J., Gaylor, E. E., Anders, T. F. (2004).  A Comparison of the Sleep-Wake Patterns of Cosleeping and Solitary-Sleeping Infants.  Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 35(2), 95-106. 

Infant Sleep - Tell Me More!

This blog entry is more of a request.  I am going to be exploring the topic of infant sleep over the rest of this course, and I am looking for personal input from you! 

For the majority of my career, I have worked with infants.  When I began, we rocked babies to sleep, then placed them in their cribs.  As my time in the classroom went on and I gained more experience, I found a better strategy.  We began placing our babies in their crib when sleepy, but still awake, and allowed them to sooth themselves to sleep.  It wasn’t an instant transition, but we were able to get all of our babies to put themselves to sleep in their cribs.  This is something that I am passionate about.  I believe that this teaches very important sleeping skills that the children will use the rest of their lives.  It not only teaches them how to GET to sleep, but also how to put themselves back to sleep if they wake up in the middle of a nap or in the middle of the night. 

I am located in a large child development center.  We actually have 4 infant classrooms (ages 6-weeks to 12-months).  This allows me to not be an island and to see how others in my same position operate.  The longer I was there, the more I realized that the sleep techniques I was using in my classroom were unique.  The other rooms might have 1, maybe 2 babies that slept in their cribs at all.  Almost every baby in our center sleeps in a bouncy seat, swing, or bucket seat in the play area of the classroom instead of in a crib, separated from the hustle and bustle of the classroom. 

This difference in sleep techniques made me curious to learn more.  I know that sleeping flat (like in a crib) is better for a baby’s circulation and allows more blood-flow to the brain.  I would like to learn more about infant sleep through my research.

Here’s where I need your help.  I am an infant teacher, but I have no children of my own.  I am curious how your baby slept (both at night and for naps) when they were less than a year old.  You don’t have to go into great detail, but I would like to know HOW you got your baby to sleep, and their typical sleep patterns (especially between 4-12 months). 

Let me know! I look forward to your replies