Cosleeping, or sharing a bed with a baby, is a popular but difficult choice for many families. Parents care tremendously about their child’s safety, and also about the baby’s psychological comfort and development. While to some, a crib in a separate room seems like a cold custom, parents also want to avoid any possible harm to their child.
Cosleeping is a very personal decision that can be made only by parents themselves. The practice has its variants, and passionate advocates and detractors. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends sharing a room with your baby for closeness, but for safety, not sharing the bed. Other researchers believe this caution fails to account for variations such as culture and maternal health. They argue that advice should focus on the hows of cosleeping safely, rather than just whys or why nots.
A Safe Surface
On one point there is no disagreement among experts on either side of the controversy. An appropriate sleep surface is critical for families who do choose to cosleep. The bed’s surface should be firm, to support the baby adequately. Soft beds and bedding are infant smothering hazards, and a too-soft mattress may interfere with proper spinal development. (This is also important when considering an appropriate crib mattress.)
A Savvy Rest layered organic mattress is customizable and changeable, which is an important advantage for cosleeping.
Designed for the Years
The mattress many cosleeping families choose is Savvy Rest’s all-Dunlop, three-layer Serenity. A Medium or Firm layer can go on top while the baby is young, and a Soft (or Medium) in the middle. If a Soft layer is chosen, later the top and middle layers can be reversed to make the mattress more comfortable for long-term adult sleep.
Medium Dunlop is responsive, but also dense enough to offer good support. We recommend turning over a Medium if it is used as the top layer in a cosleeping bed. Dunlop layers feel firmer “bottom side up,” so even Medium Dunlop can offer a fairly firm surface. If the firmest-possible surface is desired, a Firm Dunlop top layer is a very sound option–though less comfortable for weary parents.
Design adaptability is important to consider when choosing a cosleeping mattress. There’s no need to be stuck with a “hard bed” long after babies are safely launched from their night-time nest. With a Savvy Rest, you could even add a layer of luxurious Talalay years later if you’d like.
With so many flexible options, a layered Savvy Rest mattress can help you meet your whole family’s needs. While new parents can rarely sleep enough, we hope all of you will sleep better!