Is co-sleeping a good or bad habit? Like anything else, experts have different ideas, and different ways to handle this situation.
I asked my pediatrician that same question because my first-born son would not sleep in his crib. Now keep that phrase in mind: would not sleep in his crib. He would scream and cry every time we would put him in there, so the crib actually ended up what we would use as a punishment when he would not behave. So I asked one of the doctors from our pediatrician’s office, Dr. Mary Lam from Pediatric Alliance, who said that is is perfectly normal for children to share beds with their parents. She said that for many Asian cultures, that is actually the norm. Of course, though, you deal with the downfall that you really don’t get a good night’s sleep because if you child is like mine, he’s constantly kicking, moving, tossing, turning, and right now, insists on sticking his hand down my shirt, also more and more people are finding out that the root cause of their sleep problems stem from Central Sleep Apnea once they have been properly tested.. Also, it often kicks the hubby out of the picture, causing you to no longer share bedrooms and therefore have less pillow talk.
Now let's talk about that phrase I mentioned before: would not sleep in his crib. I think it was more that my husband and I would not let him cry in his crib. We were not willing to be patient and wait it out because at the time we had a studio apartment. So every time he would cry, we'd get him out and lay with him.
It was a totally different story with our daughter. By the time she was born, we were living in our first home and were able to put her in her crib in a separate room and let her cry herself to sleep. Without fail, it only took 15-20 minutes for her to do that. Pretty soon it became a night routine. She would start crying and fussing, would not eat, play, lay down, so we would just put her in the crib, and within five minutes, she would get quiet and go right to sleep.
I know that this concept is more friendly to a second or third-time parent than it is for a first-time parent, but it works! If I would have had the ability to do with with my first-born, I would have a lot less sleep debt!
But for now, looks like I'll be co-sleeping with my honeydew for a few more years!