Recent research on animal sleep behavior has revealed that sleep is influenced by the animals around them. Olive baboons, for instance, sleep less as group sizes increase, while mice can synchronize their rapid eye movement (REM) cycles. In western society , many people expect to sleep alone, if not with a romantic partner.
But as with other group-living animals, human co-sleeping is common, despite some cultural and age-related variation . And in many cultures, bedsharing with a relative is considered typical. Apart from western countries , caregiver-infant co-sleeping is common, with rates as high as 60%–100% in parts of South America, Asia and Africa.
Despite its prevalence, infant co-sleeping is controversial. Some western perspectives, that value self-reliance, argue that sleeping alone promotes self-soothing when the baby wakes in the night. But evolutionary scientists argue that co-sleeping has been important to help keep infants warm and safe throughout human existence.
Many cultures do not expect babies to self-soothe when they wake in the night and see night wakings as a normal part of breastfeeding and development . Concerns about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids) have often led pediatricians to discourage bed-sharing. However, when studies control for other Sids risk factors including unsafe sleeping surfaces, Sids risk does not seem to differ statistically between co-sleeping and solitary sleeping infants.
This may be one reason why agencies such as the Ameri.
