I've been on NO-MAIL for awhile, so I may have missed some of the chat on
co-sleeping.  However, I'll add my thoughts...

I had some of my students in my Infancy class at Utah State University do a
project/paper on co-sleeping, and one Japanese student discussed her
experiences as a child.  She said that many homes had only 1-2 rooms, and
that the living room area became the sleeping quarters at night.  They would
drag out their futons from the closets, and everyone slept together.  She did
say that in some places, things are now becoming more "westernized" with
separate sleeping areas.

It was great to see the student's opinions change as some students, who were
also parents, came "out of the closet" and discussed their co-sleeping
arrangements with their babies.  I have decided to talk about this more in
future classes.

Molly Pessl talks quite a bit about co-sleeping.  She refers to the
researcher in Pomona, CA who has researched co-sleeping, and how it regulates
the baby's physiologic functions - an interesting concept as it perhaps
relates to SIDS.  Does anyone know his name and his research?

Janet Radford Bergeson, RN, MS, IBCLC