Judging from the infant's biology and evolutionary history, proximity to parental sounds, smells, gases, heat, and movement during the night is precisely what the human infant's developing system "expects," since these stimuli were reliably present throughout the evolution of the infant's sleep physiology. The human infant is born with only 25 percent of its adult brain volume, is the least neurologically mature primate at birth, develops the most slowly, and while at birth is prepared to adapt, is not yet adapted. In our enthusiasm to push for infant independence (a recent cultural value), I sometimes think we forget that the infant's biology cannot change quite so quickly as can cultural child care patterns. - James McKenna

Co-sleeping or Family Bedding is an important component of nurturing a baby through their fourth trimester and beyond.

Expecting parents often worry about the amount of sleep they will miss out on when the new baby arrives. The first couple of months are usually quite tiring as the baby is still doing bowel movements at night. However, once the baby's bowel movements slow down, and the times between urinating start stretching out, the mother can catch up on some sleep.

Many people ask when my children started 'sleeping through the night'. Both my children slept through the night from a couple of months old, and unless they were sick, did not fully wake at night. However, both nursed many times through the night without either them nor I being woken up. We may have roused together in our sleep, but since a breastfeeding, sleep-sharing mother and baby share the same sleep cycles, we would have come up to the light sleep phase together, nursed or just shifted in our sleep and then fallen back into deeper sleep together.

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