Life

How Co-Sleeping Could Affect Your Kid's Mental Health

by Lindsay E. Mack

In the parenting realm, few topics are more divisive than sleeping arrangements. Given the many ways to approach the task of getting a baby to sleep, it's no surprise the topic of rest sometimes inspires fierce reactions. With this in mind, it's normal to wonder how co-sleeping affects your kid's mental health later in life. In a perfect world, the answers would be straightforward and clear, so you would know the best approach for your family without a doubt. In reality, however, the results from research are a little more difficult to unravel.

First, it's helpful to review the ways co-sleeping may affect your kid's physical health. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the practice of co-sleeping, in which a child sleeps in the same room as a parent on a separate sleep surface, is correlated with a decrease in the risk of sleep-related deaths for infants. Conversely, the practice of a child sleeping in the same bed as a parent, also known as bed-sharing, has been correlated with a higher rate of SIDS in children younger than 6 months old, as further noted by the AAP. As far as physical health is concerned, co-sleeping is the way to go for infants under the age of 1.

But what about the mental health effects of co-sleeping? Much more research is still needed to fully understand this connection. At this time, the research appears to show both positive and negative results. For instance, a study in Ethos found that co-sleeping promotes self-esteem and confidence in children. Sounds great, right? But as a 2011 piece in Psychology Research and Behavioral Management found, parents who turn to extended co-sleeping as a way to soothe nighttime fears may only worsen the child's anxiety.

For what it's worth, bed-sharing seems to have a negative effect on mental wellbeing. According to a recent study in Journal of Affective Disorders, children who bed-shared appeared to have more mental health impairment by the age of 6 years. To put it mildly, the relationship between co-sleeping and mental health in children still requires a tremendous amount of study. In the meantime, doing what you think is right for your family is always a smart move.