Ask The Doctor

Dear Sleeper,

Co-sleeping is the norm in most of the world, and had been throughout evolution. Only recently has the modern western society's premium on independence and self-reliance forced helpless infants to fend for themselves even at the earliest stages.

It is true that infants are dependent, in the short term. This is true for all mammals, but particularly so for human infants. While your husband has a common concern that if that an infant who sleeps with parents will become too dependent and never want to leave the family bed, in the long term, babies who co-sleep develop greater trust and confidence by having their needs met in infancy. Studies show that they go on to be more independent, not less. Eventually all babies outgrow the need and the desire to sleep in the family bed.