Cosleeping and Biological Imperatives: Why Human Babies Do Not and Should Not Sleep Alone

By James J. McKenna Ph.D. 
Edmund P. Joyce C.S.C. Chair in Anthropology 
Director, Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory 
University of Notre Dame

Where a baby sleeps is not as simple as current medical discourse and recommendations against cosleeping in some western societies want it to be. And there is good reason why. I write here to explain why the pediatric recommendations on forms of cosleeping such as bedsharing will and should remain mixed. I will also address why the majority of new parents practice intermittent bedsharing despite governmental and medical warnings against it.