Seven great reasons to sleep with children

Syv gode grunde til at sove sammen med sine børn, og at blive hos dem og putte dem til de helt er faldet i søvn.

By Cecilie Felumb Conrad | August 27, 2012

Danish

Sleep through yourself
You will be allowed to sleep through right from day one
Body contact
Body contact balances the nervous system and hormone system, which is scientifically proven – and then it is good for the soul. This is really essential for Highly Sensitive Children (HSP). It lowers their stress hormone levels, and they get a good long sleep.
Feeling secure while sleeping
Felling secure while sleeping is central, especially for sensitive children, and for children in rapid development (ie, most of childhood, but especially during periods when they develop most)
Stay in bed all night
The adults do not need to get out of bed when the children need them at night; you will quickly learn to help them without them letting go of their own sleep, the bonus is you both get to spend more time in bed and will be waking up more relaxed.
Being present
The quiet presence at the end of the children’s day provides a healthy community in the family.
Cuddle everybody to sleep at once
You can cuddle all your children at the same time, and they will learn to take care of each other and each other’s need for rest and sleep.
Avoid forced development
It avoids forced development where your children are pushed to self-empowerment unnecessarily early. Puberty should come when the time comes! We do not believe in hardening children for later life, we believe in giving them a good, robust, and safe childhood full of love and presence. This way, they can explore and unfold in confident assurance that we care for them and that there is room for them to be the small humans they are.

I hope that I can inspire others who sleep in the same room and the same bed as their children to be proud and happy with their choice. Our son, who is six and a half, has no plans to sleep alone. He thinks it’s a bizarre thought. Why on earth would he do that, though ?!

Sleeping is something we do together, like eating and going out. It’s nice, and we love it all. It works, we get the sleep we need, and we strengthen the community on which we build the castles of our lives. What more could you ask for?

Today my husband thinks it is a crazy thought that ‘kids should sleep outside the nest ?!” But in honesty, he came from a different place. When we started out, he thought it was normal that each kid should sleep alone in their own bedroom. But lucky me, I have a husband in constant development. For me, it has always just spontaneously felt right and essential, beautiful, practical, functional, & healthy. By the way, I don’t think I would close my eyes and fall asleep if I couldn’t hear them breathing next to me.

(I would like to emphasize that I am not opposed to children sleeping in their own bed in their own room. As long as they are comfortable and happy about it, and it works for the family. Then everyone is free to adjust as it suits the family’s temperament.).

Thanks for reading

[fbls]

Translated from Danish

As we are not native English speakers, we have translated this article from Danish to English with help from Google Translate and Grammarly, and then we have edited it a little ourselves. So if you see any strange mistakes, this is why 🙂