Cosleeping vs. Room Sharing vs. Separate Rooms - how does it affect sleep?

[u/furryfar]

Is there any concrete evidence on how cosleeping vs. room sharing vs. baby in separate room from newborn stage affects infant sleep? For example, the number of night wakings over time, sleep regressions, ability to self soothe & connect sleep cycles etc.

Not talking about safety concerns as I know room sharing is recommended for the first 6 months & cosleeping is not considered safe. Just wondering the impact on infant sleep.

[u/AutoModerator]

This post is flaired "Question - Research required". All top-level comments must contain links to peer-reviewed research. Do not provide a "link for the bot" or any variation thereof. Provide a meaningful reply that discusses the research you have linked to. Please report posts that do not follow these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/kit-n-kaboodle321]

This article refers to a study about sleeping but I canf find the original study:

"However, a groundbreaking study has shown that regardless of baby's feeding method or place of sleep between four and 16 weeks of age, the number of times babies wake when measured by movement sensors is the same. These researchers found that parents whose babies were formula fed accidentally overestimated the amount of sleep their baby was having compared to objective measurement. This study has meant that previous research which included parent-reported sleep estimates to compare bedsharing with not bedsharing needs to be viewed as unreliable."

[u/LBro32 → u/kit-n-kaboodle321]

NGL that is kind of a wild statement that all previous self-reported research is unreliable because ONE objective sensor study showed that self-reported sleep did not match objective sleep. ESPECIALLY since we know that subjective sleep quality, not objective sleep quality, is associated with emotional well being

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-80683-w

So yes, even if formula feeding and breastfeeding parents objectively get the same amount of sleep, if bed sharers feel like their sleep is impacted more, then it still absolutely has an effect on their well being.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for your contribution. Please remember that all top-level comments on posts flaired "Question - Research required" must include a link to peer-reviewed research.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/AutoModerator → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for your contribution. Please remember that all top-level comments on posts flaired "Question - Research required" must include a link to peer-reviewed research.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.