A Quick Guide to Safely Sleeping with Your Baby

"Cosleeping is one of the most delicious experiences in parenting, and Dr. McKenna's carefully researched and thoughtful advice separates the myths from the marvelous reality."
-Dr. Harvey Karp
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, UCLA School of Medicine Author of the book/DVD, The Happiest Baby on the Block

 

“This is a helpful exposition of the importance of mother-infant contact throughout the 24 hours of the infant's day… It also shows that, provided parents are aware of the potential risks as well as the potential benefits, and are able to eliminate identifiable hazards, then bedsharing-or at the very least mothers and infants sleeping in close proximity even if not sharing a surface-can be both safe and fulfilling for mothers and babies. The information contained within this book should be compulsory core knowledge for those caring for parents and infants in whatever capacity. It exemplifies the importance of not letting rare and potentially avoidable tragedies distort our understanding of how we all grew and developed as infants.”
-Peter J. Fleming, MD, Ph.D.
Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths Research Unit
Institute of Child Life and Health
St Michael's Hospital
Bristol, UK

 

“Brilliant! Finally a book on sleep written by a research scientist who has spent much of his academic career studying bedsharing and its relationship to maternal and child health. This information is vital to all who care about infants, parenting issues, public health issues--both mental and physical--and our society in general. One of my proudest achievements is that I “discovered” Jim McKenna in 1989 and introduced him to both the professional and mother support breastfeeding worlds. Now it is with great pride that I recommend this book to the breastfeeding world and the world at large.”
-Chele Marmet, MA, IBCLC
Conceptualized and Pioneered the field of lactation Director, Lactation Institute

 

"I am delighted to endorse this excellent guide for parents. It provides masses of information to help new parents make informed choices on whether to cosleep or bedshare with their baby, how to do so safely, and when bedsharing should be avoided. It also answers all those questions about bedsharing that parents often ask, such as how long bedsharing might continue, how it affects a child's development, cobedding of twins, and whether it is safe to sleep with a premature baby. The appendices and bibliography provide valuable resources for parents wishing to explore these issues further. This book will help parents and health professionals alike to understand and discuss the issues regarding bedsharing, and to make thoughtful choices."
-Helen Ball, Ph.D., BSc, MA, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology & Director Parent-Infant Sleep Lab, Durham University, UK

 

“Jim McKenna has provided us with sound advice, based on the best current evidence, on the best options for the safest sleeping settings. Thank you, Dr. McKenna, for providing every parent with food for thought, based on a multidisciplinary assessment of the literature, and for offering recommendations for every safe sleeping setting.”
-Miriam H. Labbok, MD, MPH, FACPM, IBCLC, FABM
Director, Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

 

“This book is a welcome addition to the existing literature available to parents on cosleeping with babies… It offers parents support in the decision to cosleep with their baby and balanced information for those wanting to, but who are deterred by conflicting advice from family, friends or health professionals. McKenna does not ignore the dangers associated with co-sleeping. Instead, he gives clear and exact guidelines.”
-Amy Semple, National Childhood Trust, London UK

 

“Dr. McKenna clearly differentiates cultural bias from science in a very balanced and readable way, so that parents are empowered to make the correct choices for themselves regarding safe bedsharing and cosleeping.”
-Nancy E. Wight, MD, IBCLC, FABM, FAAP
Medical Director, Lactation Services Sharp Mary Birch Hospital for Women

 

“BRAVO! Jim McKenna's book Sleeping with Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Cosleeping is a fabulous resource, and very much needed! Dr. McKenna deftly analyzes decades of research in human biology, sleep physiology, and anthropology and merges the best of science with practical, comfortable, and safety-conscious guidelines for parents and professionals.”
-Linda J. Smith, BSE, FACCE, IBCLC
Bright Future Lactation Resource Centre, Ltd.

 

“James McKenna, for many years, has been one of the rare voices of science-based sanity in this discussion, and it is science on which his recommendations rest… The author presents (mountains of) evidence that cosleeping promotes more stable vital signs, more and better sleep for both mother and baby, and more effective breastfeeding… Sleeping with Your Baby is a valuable addition to parent literature on infant sleeping that many, I suspect, will refer to again and again.”
-Elizabeth Hormann, EdM, IBCLC, Birth: Issues in Perinatal Care

 

“… but perhaps the BEST thing of all about this book is that McKenna treats parents as if they are intelligent enough to fully learn the facts and make responsible decisions. It would be nice if more scientists did that!”
-John Hoffman
Today’s Parent

 

"Dr. McKenna is to be commended for his pioneering and tireless work. Sleeping with Your Baby sets forth firm guidelines that will aid parents in making an informed decision about their sleeping arrangements. I highly recommend it for both parents and their health professional educators."
-Linda Hill, RN, IBCLC
ILCA

 

"Dr. James McKenna's new book, Sleeping with Your Baby (Platypus Media) begins with a quote from D.H. Winnicott: "There is no such thing as a baby. There is always a baby and someone."

This value runs deep in Dr. McKenna's book and his research. He is the director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory at the University of Notre Dame, and the nation's expert on what happens when mothers and babies sleep together and apart. His website has some fascinating clips of how his research works.

Dr. McKenna's book is one part passionate defense of co-sleeping, replete with research but still highly readable, and one part guide to safe co-sleeping. He devotes a chapter to the benefits of co-sleeping to the breastfeeding mother and baby, and also addresses issues of intimacy between co-sleeping couples. One of my favorite sections is on how other mammals sleep.

Two central arguments that Dr. McKenna makes are that co-sleeping is normal, and that under the right conditions it is better for babies than solitary sleep."
-Review from Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog

 

"Trusted advice from the world's authority on cosleeping!"
-William Sears, M.D.
Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine Pediatrician Co-author of The Baby Sleep Book

 

"Thank goodness we have Jim to assure cosleeping families that their choice is normal and natural, no matter what the culture says."
-Meredith Small, Ph.D.
Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University Author of Our Babies, Ourselves; How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent and Kids; How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Raise Young Children.

 

"Jim McKenna has provided us with sound advice, based on the best current evidence, on the best options for the safest sleeping settings. Thank you, Dr. McKenna, for providing every parent with food for thought, based on a multidisciplinary assessment of the literature, and for offering recommendations for every safe sleeping setting."
-Miriam H Labbok, MD, MPH, FACPM, IBCLC, FABM
Professor of the Practice and Director Center for Infant and Young Child Feeding and Care Department of Maternal and Child Health University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

 

"Dr. James McKenna offers parents a comprehensive, well-researched look at cosleeping and its vital benefits to the infant on all developmental levels. To ensure the safe practice of co-sleeping, Dr McKenna carefully explores the myths and the facts providing parents with evidence and practical guidelines for its normal, natural practice. I am grateful for this valuable and timely guide and I will actively present this all-inclusive resource to parents internationally."
-Jeanne Ohm, DC
Executive Coordinator of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association

 

"Along with informed and informative contributions by William Sears, Meredith Small, and Peter Fleming, "Sleeping With Your Baby: A Parent's Guide to Cosleeping" by James J. McKenna (Director of the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep laboratory, University of Notre Dame) is an instructional and safety guide for parents who sleep with their baby in their bed whether the practice is a nightly routine or an occasional event. "Sleeping With Your Baby" counters the popular notion that sleeping with an infant is dangerous to that child, and even morally suspect. Readers will find cogent and documented explanations for the potential benefits of cosleeping, how to minimize any hazards or risk factors, and just when, why, and how a parent should sleep with a baby. A very strongly recommended addition to personal and community library Parenting Studies reference collections, "Sleeping With Your Baby" is a seminal publication that should be read by every parent with an infant."
-Midwest Book Review

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Also avaialble in Spanish.

 

Adapted from the full-length book, Sleeping With Your Baby.