Safe Infant Sleep: Expert Answers to Your Cosleeping Questions

What a life changer of a book! It’s such a disservice to parent to not educate us how to cosleep and bedshare - this book rectifies that! I only wish more people would read it to have this information!

If you want to break down "common knowledge" vs "accurate knowledge" in order to make choices for your family, this book is a must. I found it by chance when preparing for our first baby and am so glad I did. I've always had a hard time going with a common narrative just because it's the loudest, and this book is exactly the remedy for all the shouting about infant sleep. I recommend it to all new parents now!

This book was so helpful in educating us on how to bedshare safely. This is something that just felt right to us and helped our baby sleep so much better. I am so grateful for the research Dr. McKenna and colleagues have done to help us feel confident sleeping next to our baby. It really is such a sweet, special experience to breastsleep and to know that our baby is so much more content next to me. He sleeps more, I sleep more and knowing that both of our cortisol levels are lower is such a confirmation that we are doing what is best for the both of us. So thankful for this book and hope the message continues to spread to other moms.

I read one review describing this book at liberating… which is the perfect word! It wasn’t until my second child that I started to question the very strict “safe sleep” guidelines that are drilled into new parents. Raising a toddler with a newborn was exhausting and I would find myself falling asleep at 2am in dangerous positions in an effort to stay awake. I just wanted to lay her next to me. After all, isn’t sleeping with your baby only natural, not just in humans but all mammals!? I found this book on my search for answers. And it was the reassurance I needed to know I was making the right decision. Thank you, thank you to the author for your well documented research! I wish every new mom would read this book.Side note: there does seem to be a lot of repeat words and themes in the book but I understand why. The author wants to reiterate that he’s not recommending anything but that all parents should at least know they have options and understand the research behind them.

This is an outstanding resource for parents and clinicians (and anyone) who want to understand the science and anthropological context of co-sleeping, bed sharing, and breastsleeping. As a family physician and as a parent, I consider Dr. McKenna to be the authority on safe infant sleep. I appreciate his clear and thoughtful communication, courageous advocacy, and inspiring compassion and humanity. He validates the experience of so many parents who cosleep, which we have practiced as a species for generations. I find it particularly interesting to learn about all of the immediate and lasting physiologic, psychological, and developmental effects that cosleeping has for infants, and I appreciate the way Dr. McKenna has presented this information so clearly and accessibly.

Good evidence based book. However, you don't need to buy it to have safe sleep. The book basically says to sleep on your side with the baby on the side of the bed as the mom, not between partners. Move the mattress away from the wall or anything the baby can get stuck between. Make sure there aren't any pillows by the babies face.This bed sharing, or as he calls it "breast-sleeping" is nice for people who sleep on their side well and don't have any shoulder injuries. It isn't a reasonable option for us, so we bought a bassinet to co-sleep.Good information- but I'm not sure you need to read the whole book.

Not been an American from birth but having lived in 3 different continents, I really struggled to understand the American mentality that almost vilifies parents who choose to co-sleep in the same bed with their children. The exaggeration of the media and internet on this topic added my suspicions about why this is the norm. This book helped me understand the framework that drove this current practice but also confirmed my own life experiences in other countries - there are ways to sleep with our baby in a safe and natural way. We just need to follow careful practices that revolve around the mother breast feeding.In today’s modern society with the multibillion dollars industry of baby formula we can easily forget that breast feeding is the safest and most nutritious way to help our babies grow.After reading this book we told our pediatrician the truth - our baby starts the night in her crib and in the middle of the night she moves to our bed where she eats and sleeps (breastsleeps). Our bed setting follows the book’s recommendations and others.I’m glad I read this book and also listened to the audiobook.

This gave me peace of mind now to safely cosleep and provided all the research and data. Recommend to all moms