03/10/2026
“According to Professor James McKenna, director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, co-sleeping is a safe and even potentially life-saving option, as long as parents provide a safe sleeping environment. Professor McKenna has extensively studied mothers and babies both co-sleeping and sleeping separately and his research demonstrates what co-sleeping mothers will attest to: When mothers and babies sleep together, they tend to get into the same sleep cycle. The mothers, even in deep sleep, were aware of their babies’ positions and would move to avoid lying on them or impeding their breathing. Although the co-sleeping babies spent less time in deep sleep and aroused more frequently (though not necessarily waking completely), their mothers actually got more sleep than the mother-baby pairs sleeping in separate rooms.
As a researcher in SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome), Professor McKenna explains that these small transient arousals may lessen a baby’s susceptibility to some forms of SIDS, which are thought to be caused by failure to arouse from deep sleep to reestablish breathing patterns. The babies in his studies who sleep with their mothers also tend to sleep on their backs or sides and less often on their tummies— another factor that could reduce the risk of SIDS. Professor McKenna advises, ‘From an evolutionary and biological perspective, proximity to parental sounds, smells, gases, heat and movement during the night is precisely what the human infant ‘expects,’ and in our push for infant independence, we are forgetting that an infant’s biology cannot change quite as quickly as cultural child-care patterns.’” – Pinky McKay, IBCLC
Babies need their mothers—even at night. Co-sleeping strengthens attachment, syncs up mother-baby sleep cycles, helps mothers get more sleep, and has even shown to be potentially protective against SIDS.
Keep reading “Co-Sleeping As Nighttime Bonding” by Pinky McKay, IBCLC: https://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/the-outer-womb/co-sleeping-as-nighttime-bonding.html
