A ubiquitous yet controversial parenting technique, bed-sharing is said to promote emotional and behavioral development in children. Pediatrics discourages bed-sharing before six months of age due to its link with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
A new study from the University of Essex suggests that parental bed-sharing is unlikely to impact children’s psychological development. Scientists studied nearly 17,000 British babies for 11 years and found that kids who shared beds were happy and healthy.
Scientists didn’t find any association between bed-sharing at nine months and childhood emotional or behavioral problems.
The UK Millennium Cohort Study, which tracks the lives of 16,599 children born in the UK, provided data for the study.
When their children were 3, 5, 7, and 11 years old, parents reported bed-sharing at nine months old, as well as internalizing behaviors like despair and anxiety and externalizing behaviors like hyperactivity and violence.
Dr Bilgin said: “Despite the ongoing debate about the potential long-term harms and benefits of bed-sharing, little scientific research has been conducted on this topic.”
“Parents can rest assured that as long as it’s practiced safely, bed-sharing is unlikely to have any negative impact on children’s emotional and behavioral development.
“There is a lot of guilt and shame around bed-sharing – but it is a parental choice.”
Journal Reference:
- Bilgin, A., Morales-Muñoz, I., Winsper, C., & Wolke, D. (2024). Associations between bed-sharing in infancy and childhood internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Attachment & Human Development, 1–20. DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2024.2380427
