On Co-Sleeping

We are co-sleepers and room-sharers in my family. We started our family bedroom in early 2013, before my youngest was born, and several years before we started renting our house out on Airbnb (2016) and doing some light traveling. This arrangement is how humans slept for the entire history of our species (and before, of course) up until 200 years ago. What caused the practice of sticking children in separate beds and separate rooms, I’ve learned recently, was the Gin Craze in the early-mid 18th Century Great Britain. Since so many parents went to bed totally wasted, they’d inadvertently roll over and kill their sleeping children. Doctors began recommending separation. That practice continues to this day, but in the opinion of evolutionary psychologists, quite unnatural and unhealthy for young children. My babies are welcome in my room for as long as they wish. If you’re curious, read Sleeping with Your Baby by Dr. James McKenna. And that’s today’s two cents.