While there's no denying the benefits of breastfeeding, a new study suggest that pairing that with co-sleeping might not be the best option for the welfare of the mother. We never adopted the co-sleeping practice mostly because I'm too selfish and I knew that if I didn't get enough quality sleep, I'd end up being the worst mother in the world. However, I've always respected other people's decisions to sleep with their babies and toddlers and I can appreciate why they do it. Truth is that when it comes to breastfeeding moms, there's no denying the convenience of co-sleeping.
But this new study, presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association, has found that women who breastfed and co-slept with their babies didn't have as good stress hormone patterns as those who breastfed but slept in separate beds.
But what's even more interesting to me is that the women who fared the worst in terms of optimal rhythms in stress hormone levels were those who co-slept with their babies but didn't breastfeed them. Since breastfeeding is a stress reducer and sharing a bed with a baby can present some sleeping problems for moms, this study seems to suggest that co-sleeping is the culprit, no?
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In the study, researchers defined an optimal rhythm one in which the levels of the stress hormone cortisol are up in the morning (so a person is ready to deal with her day) and low at night (so that she can sleep). People's whose rhythm is like the one described above have been known to have better health, including being able to survive breast cancer.
To be fair, the study was only conducted in Chicago with 195 women, so it remains to be seen if the results apply to other moms around the country. Either way, it's an interesting finding and it may convince some women to follow the recommendations made by public health experts: breastfeed, but sleep separately.
Image via Mothering Touch/flickr
