I’m a 27 year old single mother and I have a 12 year old son. Recently he’s been knocking on my door in the middle of the night because he can’t sleep and he asks to sleep with me. I’ve been letting him since neither of us really have a problem with it and it’s kind of nice not having to sleep alone every night. However, I’ve heard and seen some things online that seem controversial about co-sleeping with a child past a certain age. I definitely don’t want to negatively affect his development, so I guess what are your thoughts?

  • Libb@piefed.socialEnglish
    210·
    16 hours ago

    No worries, I just wanted to make sure there was not some mistake. Here is my edited reply:

    Two things:

    1. why can’t a teen not sleep? At his age, the body needs to sleep because its constantly growing and changing. That would be the first thing I would try to understand and fix. And if it is something the kid is not willing to discuss with his parents, which is ok too, maybe with someone else they can trust.
    2. if you have discussed with your son and there is no ambiguity between you I would just make sure that you sleep under separated sheets or whatever (he is not a little baby anymore and the body of a teen boy can react in ways neither you or him would be willing to see happen), provided you made it clear this should not become a habit because sleeping with mom may not be the best way to develop good sleeping habits.

    Hope this helps.

    (end of the edited reply)