These days, some mothers contemplate whether to share beds with their children or leave them to sleep on their own. This is because of the ongoing debate in different quarters whether mothers should share beds with their children or not.
It has remained a controversial topic for a long time. While some people insist that it promotes bonding between mothers and the kids, others say that it teaches children to be overly dependent on their mothers.
Even though there are advantages and disadvantages of mothers sharing beds with their children, many mothers still prefer to be close to their children while sleeping. Some mothers insist it helps them keep a close watch on their children and their before bed activities. But sharing beds with your children is not all blissful.
As a mother, sleeping in the same bed as your child may sound like it’s all snuggles and bonding time, but women who engage in such acts have tales to tell. They must have thought that co-sleeping would be a cozy way to bond with their children, but the outcomes leave much to be desired.
One of the things mothers who share beds with their children discover later on is that their children lack self-reliance. When kids don’t benefit from the experience of looking inside themselves as a resource, they focus on external mechanisms to manage stress and anxiety. When parents allow co-sleeping, they often assume that kids will naturally grow out of it and many do not.
In addition to the obvious stress on the marital relationship, the physiological and psychological well-being of parents is compromised after years of living without a restful night of sleep. Sleep deprivation impacts brain functioning in that it adds to the challenge that parents have in understanding how to change the status quo and resume control over night time and their bed.
For some mothers, a swift kick in the ribs from a little foot is a surprisingly effective alarm clock. Also effective in jolting them back to reality from dreamland is accidental slap across the face and/or a tiny finger in their nose while they are trying to catch some sleep after a hard day’s job.
Mothers who co-sleep with their children also discover that they would lie awake for hours debating the merits of getting out of bed to use the toilet and potentially waking up the baby in the process, versus squirming in discomfort until morning. This robs them of some good night rest.
There’s nothing quite like opening your eyes in the wee hours of the morning to realize you are lying in a warm puddle courtesy of the soundly slumbering little person lying next to you.
If you believe in this sleeping pattern, you won’t just be co-sleeping with your child, you will also be co-sleeping with an ever-expanding assortment of toys. The discomfort that comes from these toys piercing through your tired body leaves much to be desired.