What exactly is cosleeping?
“Cosleeping” and “bedsharing” (also referred to as “sharing sleep”) are terms often incorrectly used interchangeably to describe a sleep arrangement where family members sleep in the same bed. References to these words often lead to confusion about publicized information on safe versus unsafe infant sleep practices. Cosleeping, however, is an umbrella term that is used to refer to infants and their adult caregivers sleeping in “close proximity” though not necessarily in the same bed. Bedsharing, one form of cosleeping, is sharing the same bed with an infant. Unsafe infant sleep practices, including sleeping with an infant on a couch, recliner, or other non-bed surface, are not accepted forms of cosleeping or bedsharing. For safe sleep guidelines, read our Infant Sleep Safety resources.
