Breastfeeding & Co-Sleeping: 2 Peas in a Pod

I remember when I told my Mom that Lil Man still slept in my bed at the age of three. She was surprised, but not shocked like she was when I told her I was still breastfeeding him. For me, they go hand in hand. Sure you can breastfeed and not co-sleep. Just like you can co-sleep and not breastfeed.

However, I have found that since I do breastfeed, having my children co-sleep with me makes sense and works out well. When baby gets hungry in the night, Mama doesn't have to get out of bed to feed him. There is very little interruption in my down time and baby barely wakes up and goes right back to sleep.

I've received my share of opposition because I practice extended breastfeeding and co-sleeping. Even the hubster had his doubts. Before Lil One was born we discussed this issue and he had to let me know that Dr. Phil does not approve of children co-sleeping with their parents. He knows I like Dr. Phil, therefore, if Dr. Phil doesn't approve of it, then maybe he could persuade me in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, for him he was not very successful.

The battle regarding co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding has been an ongoing one between experts and parents for decades. Try googling the debate and you will receive umpteen results pro or con on the issue. Co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding interrupts alone time for parents and it causes a child to be too dependent on their parent(s) are two of the many cons some psychologists argue.

Is there such a thing as complete privacy for parent(s) once they have children? I think all parents would concur that up to a certain age they will give up a degree of privacy for their children.

I've heard it said that if you let children co-sleep with their parents, it takes away from parents' intimate time. Can I ask you seriously, is the bedroom the only place and night the only time for intimacy between parents? I'm being serious and not trying to be crude. I'll wait while you put your bugged out eyes properly back into their sockets, at my forwardness. Yes, I went there. Maybe we need to get it out of our heads that the bedroom is our only play area. Yep, I went there again. Please close your wide open mouth. We are all grown folk, aren't we?

Okay, here it goes - Ana on the dependency issue. Was not this nation built on men and women who co-slept in their parents bed and were breastfed? I bet you it was. Okay, so I haven't exactly read the phrase "Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, etc were all products of co-sleeping parents and breastfeeding mamas." However, when one reads about these fine men and women's upbringing and the times in which they lived, it's logical to assume parents co-slept with the kids and mamas practiced extended breastfeeding.

In the era of our nation's founding papas and mamas baby formula had not been invented. It would seem likely that mamas practiced extended breastfeeding since it was the cheapest form of nurishment for babies and toddlers. Times were lean for many and folks were frugal. Homes were 1-3 rooms establishments for the average family. Whole families slept in the same room and I'm sure breastfeeding children slept right there next to their mama's bosom.

I've never read that George Washington was a fine president, but he had dependency issues. How about Harriet Tubman who really came from the humblest of means? I wouldn't, couldn't believe she had her own room and slept in her own bed at night as an infant or toddler. Considering the great accomplishments she achieved, it's hard to believe dependency was one of her flaws. Common ya'll, that courageous lady slept right there between her Mama and Papa well into her toddler years unless her parents were inhumanely sold out from underneath her.

So 'splain to me why all of sudden in our age of "knowledge", extended breastfeeding and co-sleeping is causing all sorts of dependent and spineless children?