Two thoughts that struck me as I was reading. It is common for babies up to one year of age to share a bed with their parents in other parts of the world.... why do we put a deadline on this? What are we so worried about that we make deadlines and have parents who then feel they should no longer allow their children in bed with them after a certain age? I would imagine that older children all over the world like to crawl into the adult bed for comfort, and when the child no longer needs this comfort, they will no longer do this. I can remember as a child at the age of 5 and 6 I would crawl in with my parents on the weekend in the early mornings for sleep. My own children now 9 and 7 still enjoy cuddling with me in bed. Sometimes we live our lives so much in fear of tomorrow and the problems we might be starting, that we forget to enjoy today. Children self wean from the breast when they are ready and they self wean from the adult bed when they are ready. 

The other thought was what message do we send new parents if we tell them their babies aren't safe in their arms in a hospital. Only nurses and doctors can carry babies, they are that fragile, and yes, no we are discharging you home with your baby and no nurse or doctor to carry the baby for you, sorry for your luck. Like a lot of policies in hospitals, I would imagine a very tragic situation spawned this one, but wouldn't it be better to have a policy that looked at specifics rather than a blanket policy?

How sad that we feel we need so many rules in our society that we even have rules about holding and sleeping with our babies. 

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