co-sleeping

[Pinky McKay]

Hi Cheryl An interesting view on co-sleeping -not necesarily what you want but an Asian perspective. I have been writing for an Asian baby mag published in the Philipines. The editor sent me a copy of their health mag "Health Today"  which is distributed to about five Asian countries. There is an article about co-sleping which really shows the different cultural perspective   Bedsharing is appently common in Asia sometimes extending until adolescence. In this article, Dr Violeta Bautista, head of the clinical Psychology  Program of the Universty of the Philipines, says,   "I believe that children who share beds with their parents usuallly don't marry early, that's because they do not hunger for touch. Children often spend time out of the house because of iner loneliness and try to fill the emptiness with touch."   There is absolutely no question about infant bedsharing and under the heading "Time to Move on" , this 'expert' advises children should eel free to "bunk in" whenever they need to talk more intimately with their parents. However she draws the line at ADOLESCENCE!!  She says, "as children become older, they begin to spend more time in their bedrooms or with friends outside the home. They no longer enjoy tagging along with their parents as much as they used to. It is part of the whole development al cycle of growth, and moving to one's bed and room is just one of the steps in this whole process."   I found this so fascinating - here, questions are raised about BABIES not adolescents who bedshare. If you like I could forward your email to the editor of this mag , she may have some local stats.   I have just done an interview with A Current Affair about my new book "100 Ways to calm the Crying". I have no idea what they will cut or how I will be presented -it is always such a risk -they are also interviewing the paed fromRCH who has done the recent study into controlled crying reported in the BMJ - linking cc to reducing post natal depression -I hate the idea of being set against someone and guess since this person is being interviewed AFTER me she will be told what I have said -and of course i have thought of many things I could have also said since.   my biggest difficulty with such research is that major participants -the babies - would not have given consent. I dared to bring up co-sleeping as an option -I may be portrayed as a mad woman. But as they say any publicity is good publicity.   Pinky www.pinky-mychild.com