Co-sleeping, an ancient practice: issues of the past and present, and possibilities for the future.

Co-sleeping-infants sharing the mother's sleep space-has prevailed throughout human evolution, and continued over the centuries of western civilization despite controversy and blame of co-sleeping mothers for the deaths of their infants. By the past century, "crib death" was recognized, later identified as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), and generally found to occur more frequently during bed sharing. Pediatricians warned parents of the dangers of SIDS and other risks of bed sharing, and the frequency of bed sharing decreased markedly over the years.

The breathing bear: an intervention for crying babies and their mothers.

The Breathing Bear, an optional source of rhythmic stimulation for infants, was investigated for its effects on full-term infants and their mothers. The Bear "breathes" like a normal infant at a rate matching the infant's. Previous studies have indicated that premature infants prefer a Breathing Bear over a Non-Breathing Bear, and they show neurobehavioral benefits from the exposure.

Temporal patterns of caregiving for preterm infants indicate individualized developmental care.

Objective: Individualized attention for premature infants was assessed from temporal patterns of caregiving at three very different regional NICUs.

Study Design: Continuous time-lapse video recording of 95 premature infants under 1500 g was made over three 24-hour periods when they were 33 weeks' and 35 weeks' conceptional age.

Statistical Analysis: Analysis of variance was used to compare caregiving measures within and across hospitals.

Higher maternal plasma docosahexaenoic acid during pregnancy is associated with more mature neonatal sleep-state patterning.

Background: The effect of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on the developing fetal central nervous system (CNS) and related functional outcomes in infancy remain unexplored. Sleep and wake states of newborns provide a tool for assessing the functional integrity of the CNS.

Objective: We investigated whether CNS integrity in newborns, measured with sleep recordings, was associated with maternal concentrations of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially DHA.

The sleep of co-sleeping infants when they are not co-sleeping: evidence that co-sleeping is stressful.

Co-sleeping proponents consider the practice to be "natural" and a potential protection against sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS); others consider the practice of an infant sleeping in the parents' bed for prolonged periods at night to place an infant at risk for harm or death. For this study, co-sleeping was investigated from a different perspective, that is, as a significant early experience to investigate as it may have implications for the infant's development. The sleep of 101 normal, full-term infants was recorded nonintrusively in the home for 24 hr periods when they were 5 weeks and 6 months old.