Sleep can be a controversial parenting issue in many regards:  Where does baby sleep?  How much does baby sleep?  How does baby fall asleep?  Do we let baby "cry it out," or not?

There are countless "sleep experts" extolling the virtues of his/her sleep program.  And EVERYONE (doctors, grandparents, co-workers, friends) seems to have an opinion.

Most of the time, new parents are just trying to get through the first few months, and all of this back-and-forth about sleep can be extremely overwhelming; especially because new parents are usually so sleep-deprived.

At Happy Bambino, we don't have any "answers" except to say that we encourage parents to create safe sleep environments and then do whatever works best for their family (on any given day).

Safer Sleeping

"There is no right or wrong place for baby to sleep. Wherever all family members sleep the best is the right arrangement for you. Remember, over half the world's population sleeps with their baby, and more and more parents in the U.S. are sharing sleep with their little one."
- Dr. William Sears

Dr. Sears.com - Sleeping Safely With Your Baby
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t102200.asp

• Mothering Magazine article: How the Stats Really Stack Up: Cosleeping Is Twice As Safe referenced in Dr. Sears page above.

Elizabeth Pantley's Checklist for Safe Co-sleeping
http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/books/0071381392.php?nid=169&isbn=0071381392

The Natural Child Project - Is Sleeping with my baby safe?
http://www.naturalchild.com/james_mckenna/sleeping_safe.html

AAP Policy Statement on breastfeeding and the importance of mother's milk
The policy recommends, "Mother and infant should sleep in proximity to each other to facilitate breastfeeding."
http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;115/2/496

• https://happybambino.com/Portals/0/PDFs/protocol_6.pdf
  - Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine

DR. Sears.com - SIDS/SIDS Prevention
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/t102100.asp#T102101

The Biology of Newborn Sleep - Elizabeth Pantley
http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/advice/0071381392.php?nid=425

"You may believe that babies should start "sleeping through the night" soon after birth. For a new baby, a five-hour stretch is a full night. This may be a far cry from what you may have thought "sleeping through the night" meant! What's more, some sleep-through-the-nighters will suddenly begin waking more frequently, and it’s often a full year or more until your baby will settle into an all-night, every night sleep pattern.

It’s a fact that your baby will be waking you up, so you may as well make yourself as comfortable as possible. Relax about night wakings right now. The situation will improve day by day; and before you know it, your newborn won’t be so little anymore — she’ll be walking and talking and getting into everything in sight…during the day, and sleeping peacefully all night long." - Elizabeth Pantley

31 Ways to Get Your Baby to Go to Sleep and Stay Asleep Easier- Dr.Sears.com
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070300.asp

Babyhood…….by Paul Reiser

“Getting your child to sleep becomes a blinding obsession. I myself would often loose sight of the larger picture. What is the actual goal here? Constant sleep? No awake time? Zero consciousness?

I mean, we must accept that at some point babies have to be awake.They did not come to the planet just to sleep. Are we determined to get them asleep just so we can get a taste of what life was like before we had a kid?

Because, if we are, then why did we have a kid? Just to lie there to look soft and fuzzy? We could have gotten, say, just a peach. A St Bernard? A narcoleptic houseguest? Or why not just a chenille bathrobe? Chenille bathrobes are fuzzy and just lie there.”