![]() Indeed, no tribe was found not to bedshare. In a wonderful review of human history and behaviours, Jared Diamond covers how prominent bedsharing was in human history, with families sleeping together in small quarters, especially with infants and young toddlers, and how it persists in small scale societies today. Bedsharing – and extended bedsharing – has been a staple in human history for far longer than it has been considered weird or abnormal. I will get to the scientific evidence, but I prefer to start looking at things historically and cross-culturally for this one. Should you fear that you will turn your child into a clingy, dependent child and adolescent and grown up who won’t be able to cope with the world at all? Let’s see… This is especially true if you bedshare beyond that young infancy period (and of course if you bedshare during infancy, you may be told you’re putting your baby’s life at risk, but despite the media grasping to articles suggesting danger, far more detailed studies suggest safe bedsharing isn’t dangerous at any age). You will forever be tied to your child, they will refuse to sleep alone, and you’ll spend your life having to care for them. ![]() One of the biggest responses when people hear you bedshare in our Western society is that your child will never learn independence. Regardless, the notion that bedsharing will hurt or damage a child is unfounded. However, research that has examined this question finds absolutely no support for this belief indeed, the research that has been done supports either no distinction between children who bedshared beyond infancy and those who did not on myriad outcomes or the findings support a benefit to bedsharing beyond infancy. The largest cultural concern with bedsharing beyond infancy is that somehow it will stifle a child’s social development, particularly in the realm of independence. In the younger ages, safety fears run rampant, but even when these fears subside, bedsharing remains taboo. Abstract: Bedsharing in Western cultures is often looked down upon and considered socially inappropriate.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |