The second a parent publicly admits to co-sleeping with their infant or child, eyebrows are raised and opinions are shared by concerned bystanders. That’s exactly what is happening to Kourtney Kardashian right about now because she admitted she is co-sleeping with her youngest child Rocky Thirteen born to her and hubby Travis Barker in November 2023.
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As someone who safely and successfully co-slept with both of my children, I genuinely don’t think it’s all that controversial. Still, I understand the concerns voiced by others. While I don’t think that co-sleeping is life-threatening when practiced responsibly, I also don’t think it’s for everyone. Like many things, it is a choice that comes with benefits and compromises.
Here’s how Kourtney brought up her current co-sleeping situation and also her experience with it in the past. Instead of judging her for it, let's hear her out and make our own informed decisions.
It started with a screenshot.
Kourtney, who is also mother to three children with ex Scott Disick, shared a screenshot of the audiobook Safe Infant Sleep: Expert Answers to Your Cosleeping Questions. I appreciate this as a conversation starter because it shows that she’s researching the topic and getting as informed as she can.
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She added some context as well.
She wrote the following over the screenshot: “been co-sleeping safely since 2009, I still love reading/listening to more safe co-sleeping tips and hearing about the benefits.” Her eldest son Mason was born in 2009.
Her eldest child, Mason, was the first to co-sleep with her.
She wrote a blog post on her website Poosh that explains, “When I had Mason, co-sleeping just kind of happened naturally so I quickly embraced it.” She also explained that she and Scott used something called a DockATot that is a sort of infant mat with a cushion barrier around it.
It’s important to note that co-sleeping can happen in a variety of ways.
“I used this DockATot, which gave me peace of mind knowing my baby was safe and protected by this comfy barrier, so that he had his own space in the bed away from mom and dad,” Kourtney explained in her blog post.
Other parents opt to use separate blankets when the baby is sleeping directly in the bed with them so as to not accidentally bury the baby under a shared blanket. Some parents use a sidecar sleep option so that the baby attached to the bed, but not in the bed.
When her daughter Penelope was born in 2012, co-sleeping was a choice.
Kourtney has shared that with Mason, co-sleeping just kind of happened, but when her daughter Penelope was born, co-sleeping was a choice made after treading The Attachment Parenting Book by Dr. Sears.
Dr. Sears comes to the defense of parents who choose to co-sleep and states on his website that “Instead of making parents afraid to sleep with their babies, a more contemporary approach would be to teach parents who choose to co-sleep to do it safely.”
There are some definite advantages to the practice.
“Some of the advantages of shared sleep for my family included a better and longer night’s sleep and more time together as a family,” she wrote in the blog post.
Another benefit is time together. “As a working mom, if I didn’t have much time with my babies during the day, at least I knew we’d have our nights together,” she shared.
Still, although Kourtney is fond of co-sleeping, she did not choose to do it with her third child.
Why didn’t her son Reign get to co-sleep with her? There just wasn’t any more room available. She “decided to have him sleep in his own room from the start” because she and Scott already had a full bed since they were co-sleeping with their two other children.
As for her youngest, Rocky, he is a total stranger to his crib.
“He’s never been in his crib. It’s my favorite thing in the world,” Kourtney shared as part of her response to a question on Instagram Stories in May. I appreciate that she’s been so open about her co-sleeping experience and also shares resources she’s used to learn how to do it safely because education is key.
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