Colorado: For
the last two decades, the number of parents who share a bed with their
infant has been steadily climbing. Parents cite a number of reasons for
making the choice to co-sleep. Some enjoy the feeling of bonding; some
like to give the infant instant access to a breast to nurse from; some
even think it’s traumatizing for infants to put them down alone. Many
have a hard time getting the baby to sleep in a bassinet and resort to
taking the infant to bed just to get some sleep.
Whatever the reason, the
National Institutes of Health found
that the number of parents reporting that their infant “usually” shares
a bed with the parent or someone else more than doubled between 1993
and 2014.
Research conducted by Children’s Hospital Colorado also
found that among teenage mothers in Colorado, a whopping 99.5 percent
reported that they have slept or frequently do sleep with their baby,
and that they felt the baby was safer with them.
