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Pros and Cons of the Family Bed

Posted 31st October 2009 by single mom, tagged Family Bed Teenager

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I'm a single mom of a 13 year old son.  We've sleep in the same bed at night.  We both enjoy it.  I feel that there can't be any harm in this, but recently friends have disagreed with me.  Are their any other single moms out there with advice?

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  • I am not a single mother, but I think that co-sleeping is hardly an issue of whether a parent is married or single or living with someone or whatever. I did a little searching for you though and stumbled across this blog entry from Attachment Parenting. There are some comments that support co-sleeping into the teens and others that don't: http://www.apparenting.com/cosleeping_age_appropriateness_and_nudity_1.html

    While I personally find it a bit much that a teenager sleeps in his or her parents bed at night as a matter of routine (and not, say, on a random evening for comfort because of some nightmare or stress), I think that perhaps the one trend I found in those who are co-sleeping advocates to begin with is that teenaged co-sleeping is OK as long as it's what the CHILD wants. If it feels like your son is wanting to pull away or is hesitant about continuing the arrangement, then it's time to let him go. Although we are not co-sleepers and, frankly, I do think it's a bit creepy to sleep with teenaged children (again though, that is my own opinion), I could see where that is probably the most sound advice on the matter out there.

    You might try submitting this question to Child Caring's Barbara Meltz too. She has a wealth of resources at hand to give a more informed answer from a pediatric and psychiatric standpoint, rather than just an opinion or people who already advocate this practice "preaching to the choir". Historically, she's a supporter of co-sleeping with young kids, though I don't think I've ever seen her address the issue of teenaged co-sleeping. Check her out here: http://www.boston.com/community/moms/barbara_meltz_mailbag/

    Good luck!

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by Phe on 2nd November 2009

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