NS April 22nd, 2009

I was getting ready to write a lengthy post refuting this badly-researched, purposely sensational and misrepresentative article about the “dangers” of bed-sharing with a baby, when I saw that Jessica at This Is Worthwhile had already done a brilliant job of tackling the issue. She wrote:

The media and experts attempting to scare the rest of us out of bed sharing are doing a disservice to natural parenting, to the gut instinct of a plugged-in parent who can offer a kind touch, monitor their baby throughout the night, and who can tend to his needs with ease. And they’re doing a disservice to the millions of parents out there who need to be better educated about better bed sharing practices because they’re unable to do anything but share a sleeping space with their infant.

These articles are stripping away a parent’s intuition down to a sum of its parts, and like the nutrients in an apple, they are each crucial and mysterious. We can’t simply say, “Here eat some vitamin C, it’s as good as an apple,” and so we also can’t say, “Separate from your baby, it’s as good as sleeping together.”

I think it’s cruel and unfair to use the loss of other people’s children to advocate for something that goes against the mothering and fathering practices of most of this planet for most of humankind. I don’t think anyone should be scaring parents out of a practice which may come very naturally to them, such as bed sharing. It may not be something some parents even want to try, so bully for them, but for those parents who do, they should be supported, not dissuaded.

Read the whole post here.

• Bloggy love , In The News , Parenting 101
• Comments(2)