Thoughts on cosleeping and biology

Shannon and I are both biology majors by training (and teachers); my Master's is in bio. We were discussing how Owen seems to freak out lately in his own bed (we think we know why but that's another story). We're not knocking ANYONE's choices. This is just our perspective (which doesn't mean we're going to cosleep from here on out....).

Here's what we came up with:

-Humans are apes, like chimps, bonobos, and gorillas.

-Those other apes do not leave their babies alone in a separate nest at night--ever. They sleep together, secure.

-Only lately have humans begun to think that babies need to sleep alone, in another room. Before that, whole families slept in rooms together, sometimes in beds together; babies always slept w/their mommies.

-Other apes carry their babies around all day; we don't get to do that, usually. So sleeping in the same place makes for extra bonding that otherwise isn't available most days for working mommies.

-And for babies, bonding = survival.

-Biologcially speaking, cosleeping makes perfect sense. The baby feels secure; the mommy knows the baby is secure and right there; if the baby has any distress, mommy is right there to determine what's wrong; feeding can occur whenever needed...etc.

I am just writing about this because I worried about cosleeping for so long, and didn't want to do it when Owen was younger because I didn't want to roll on him. But he's bigger now, so it's not as much of an issue. And I miss him all day. And he clings to me this week when it's bedtime. And he grins and giggles into my face and his daddy's face when we come to bed and he half-wakes up.


And biologically, it really makes sense. As a biologist, I tend to view many things on that level.

Not for everyone, but slowly becoming maybe for us.