Co-sleeping refers to sharing a bed with your child, an arrangement that often starts in infancy. With newborns, a breast-feeding mother can nurse easily when sharing the bed with her baby, resulting in more sleep for both. Often, this sleeping arrangement continues for months or sometimes years. If children over 5 are still in the family bed, there are a number of disadvantages.
Transitioning
The longer you allow your child to sleep in your bed, the more difficult it will be to transition him into his own room. If your child over 5 is still in bed with you, it is possible that you will struggle to get him out to his own bed. If he is accustomed to years of snuggling between his parents, an empty bed in a dark room can be scary for him, making his new sleeping arrangements difficult to accept.
Napping
You might still want your child over 5 to take a morning or afternoon nap. However, if he is used to sleeping with you, he might not nap without you. Thus, unless you are able to drop everything to crawl into bed with your child during nap time, then co-sleeping can have a negative impact on daytime sleeping.
Sleep Disruption
You child might have taken comfort sleeping with you when he was a baby, allowing you to sleep better. However, the co-sleeping arrangement might be distracting to a child over 5 who is more aware of his surroundings. He might want to talk to you or play with you at night instead of sleep. Thus, co-sleeping with older children can hinder regular sleep patterns and increase disruptions during the night.
Dependence
A child who co-sleeps with his parents past the age of 5 runs the risk of becoming totally dependent on his parents as he matures. You want to start instilling some principles of independence at this age, though you still want your child to depend on you for support, advice and care. Sleeping alone in a big-kid bed can be one way to instill that independence.
