Responsible Parenting

The subject of the post found here today sparks my annoyance due to the implied black and whiteness of it all.


The ads and comments upset me because they're designed, in my opinion, to make a parent feel like they're bad, wrong, or evil for choosing to co-sleep with their children.

It's called responsible parenting. Know the facts, the advantages and the potential dangers, and make decisions based on what is right for you and your children. Smart, informed decisions that will help your children to reach their full potential in life.

I ended up co-sleeping, at some point, with all my kids (now ages 15, 10 and 7), but not by explicit choice. Except for brief periods of time at the beginning of each child's life (a few months) I have worked full time throughout their childhood.  Whatever amount of sleep I could get was important. It kept me sane and capable of being a good parent. If that meant bringing a crying child in need of parental comfort to bed with me, that was what I did. If my child had a cold or fever, guess where they felt comfort? That's right, in mom's arms.

Co-sleeping is not for everyone. If someone asked, I wouldn't tout it as the end all, be all sleeping solution. As often as possible, I wanted my children in their own beds, however I wasn't going to listen to them cry and attempt to "self comfort" while I tried to sleep peacefully in my own bed, when it was clear they needed me.

I think these facts about children dying due to co-sleeping are misleading because no one has the facts on the number of children who have co-slept without incident to compare them to. Only the tragedies make the news, not the successes. (For positive information on co-sleeping, you might read here.)

The death of any child is tragic. A preventable death, even more so, but let's not vilify parents that co-sleep.