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Thursday, March 8, 2012

Room-sharing. What's the big fucking deal?

I need to vent, so please excuse, in advance, my expletives. But if another person (a mom at that) gives me shit for still sleeping Elijah in our room (his bassinet was in our room and now his crib is), I am going to scream and possibly go postal on that person! He is ONLY 9 months old, not 9 years old!

Why is the idea of room-sharing with my 9 month old son so crazy to some? I don't get it?  I respect a parent's choice to move their kid into their own room/space at an early age, I completely respect that, but what I just don't get why it seems to be such an issue for some that I still have Elijah in our bedroom? The feeling I get is that I am somehow making him less independent, too clingy and not giving him his space.

He's ONLY 9 MONTHS old!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!! <screaming>

Okay, woosah...

Research indicates that having your baby sleep in the same room, but not in the same bed, with you in the first 6 to 12 months of life may be protective against Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).  The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP):
"recommends the arrangement of room-sharing without bed-sharing, or having the infant sleep in the parents' room but on a separate sleep surface (crib or similar surface) close to the parents' bed. There is evidence that this arrangement decreases the risk of SIDS by as much as 50% and is safer than bed-sharing or solitary sleeping (when the infant is in a separate room). In addition, this arrangement is most likely to prevent suffocation, strangulation, and entrapment, which may occur when the infant is sleeping in the adult bed. Furthermore, room-sharing without bed-sharing allows close proximity to the infant, which facilitates feeding, comforting, and monitoring of the infant."
For me, it's just a personal preference. I'm not ready to have Elijah be in a separate room. Just as I'm not ready for date nights and other activities that keep me from him.

Have other mommies/parents dealt with people giving them shit for room-sharing?

1 comments:

  1. My three boys all slept in my room for a good four years or so until they were bumped by an incoming sibling. They each had a little toddler bed near mine, and that worked for us...they now are ALL independent sleepers with no night issues (night terrors, insomnia, etc...) whatsoever, and since those early days they have never expressed a desire to return to my room. People are weird, and we live in a society that (over) values independence- just my personal opinion- so it seems the public is overly cautious about making sure their children are as detached from them as possible. Love your line, "he's 9 months, not 9 years old..." get over it, people

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