Imagine a mother putting her child to sleep in contemporary America. The child is placed in bed at a precise time. The mother lays her child on their back in the crib. The bed is free from too many blankets and stuffed toys to avoid suffocation, and before she says goodnight, the mother kisses the cross hanging over the crib exactly twelve times so Jesus will protect her baby. She then proceeds to turn on the baby monitor and leave the bedroom. This scenario is mainly derived from stereotype rather than research, however my fieldwork concluded similar results. I began my research by asking mothers about their infants sleep routine and their opinions about co-sleeping. Parents were quick to tell me their child slept, will sleep, or currently
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The practice of placing an infant in a crib is based more on societal reasons than benefit. Crib sleeping began to occur by the end of the nineteenth century, and there are several historical factors that may have played a role. According to the author Benjamine Spock (1946), as cited in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2007), he believed children should be placed in a nursery to sleep and towels placed under the door to muffle the sounds of crying. His theory was that this method of parenting would allow the baby to cry itself to sleep and eventually condition them to fall asleep on their own. Co-sleeping was also banned in the catholic religion in efforts to stop infanticide due to starvation. Another reason could be because parents did not want their children to be exposed to sex or masturbation in the bedroom (Mckenna, Ball, & Gettler …show more content…
Mothers reported waking up every hour to check on their infant in the crib to ensure they were breathing. One mother reported pulling over several times during car rides to ensure her baby was alive. Others were so terrified of the topic that they refused to talk about it. Overall, it is a deep anxiety that mothers face and a situation many mothers sadly experience. It is overlooked how much a mother provides for her child. A mother provides warmth, security, food, and nurture. According to the Journal of Human Behavior and Evolution, a mother’s death directly increases the mortality of her child, and studies throughout complex societies have found that a baby’s chance of survival after a mother’s death can be less than 5% (Sear, 2008). Infants among non-human primates have also been documented to experience detrimental effects after short or long term periods of separation from the mother (McKenna, Ball, & Gettler, 2007; Reite & Field, 1985). In an evolutionary context, the human species would not survive if mothers placed their children in a different place to sleep. The separation between the mother and child would lead to the baby’s death by predators, harsh weather, or lack of food. It is theorized that babies are so closely connected to their mothers that the baby’s breathing can sync to the mother (McKenna, Ball, & Gettler,
The practice of placing an infant in a crib is based more on societal reasons than benefit. Crib sleeping began to occur by the end of the nineteenth century, and there are several historical factors that may have played a role. According to the author Benjamine Spock (1946), as cited in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology (2007), he believed children should be placed in a nursery to sleep and towels placed under the door to muffle the sounds of crying. His theory was that this method of parenting would allow the baby to cry itself to sleep and eventually condition them to fall asleep on their own. Co-sleeping was also banned in the catholic religion in efforts to stop infanticide due to starvation. Another reason could be because parents did not want their children to be exposed to sex or masturbation in the bedroom (Mckenna, Ball, & Gettler …show more content…
Mothers reported waking up every hour to check on their infant in the crib to ensure they were breathing. One mother reported pulling over several times during car rides to ensure her baby was alive. Others were so terrified of the topic that they refused to talk about it. Overall, it is a deep anxiety that mothers face and a situation many mothers sadly experience. It is overlooked how much a mother provides for her child. A mother provides warmth, security, food, and nurture. According to the Journal of Human Behavior and Evolution, a mother’s death directly increases the mortality of her child, and studies throughout complex societies have found that a baby’s chance of survival after a mother’s death can be less than 5% (Sear, 2008). Infants among non-human primates have also been documented to experience detrimental effects after short or long term periods of separation from the mother (McKenna, Ball, & Gettler, 2007; Reite & Field, 1985). In an evolutionary context, the human species would not survive if mothers placed their children in a different place to sleep. The separation between the mother and child would lead to the baby’s death by predators, harsh weather, or lack of food. It is theorized that babies are so closely connected to their mothers that the baby’s breathing can sync to the mother (McKenna, Ball, & Gettler,