Early Childhood Pediatric Sleep Concerns for Parents: Co-sleeping

Sullivan, S.S.; Ball, H.L.

Abstract

Of all the sleep-related challenges in infancy and early childhood, none has generated the attention and controversy of co-sleeping. Rates of co-sleeping vary across countries and cultures. While in some studies co-sleeping has been associated with poorer child sleep (measured by overall sleep time, night waking frequency, etc.) recent data have highlighted a more complex and nuanced relationship between co-sleeping, infant/child sleep, parental sleep, and other outcomes dependent on social ecology and infant/child age. Parent-infant co-sleeping has been studied in detail regarding associations with sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)/infant mortality risk, breastfeeding facilitation, and developmental psychology. The most recent American Academy of Pediatrics Task Force on Infant Positioning and SIDS recommends against co-sleeping in the form of bed sharing, while the UK National Institute for Health & Care Excellence finds insufficient evidence of a causal relationship between SIDS and co-sleeping, and cautions against co-sleeping only in the context of parental smoking, drug and alcohol use, and infant prematurity/low birthweight. Some studies have identified sofa-sharing for sleep as particularly hazardous. Evidence indicates that while co-sleeping is less prevalent in the United States than in Asian or some European countries, it is prevalent among minority groups and breastfeeding mothers.

Citation

Sullivan, S., & Ball, H. (2017). Early Childhood Pediatric Sleep Concerns for Parents: Co-sleeping. In J. Stein (Ed.), Reference module in neuroscience and biobehavioral psychology. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.00880-4

• Online Publication Date: Dec 21, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jan 9, 2017
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Book Title: Reference module in neuroscience and biobehavioral psychology.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-809324-5.00880-4
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1669758
• Contract Date: Nov 21, 2016