In Japan, it's the rule rather than the exception for families to sleep together, with babies co-sleeping with their parents until the next baby arrives. And even then, the first child tends to co-sleep with another family member until the age of ten.
In Japan, infants and mothers co-sleep as part of common practice since ancient times, and mothers and infants usually sleep in the face-to-face position.
Traditionally co-sleeping in Japan is in the form of kawa no ji, with the child sleeping in between the parents. It is sometimes used as a solution to lack of space in a household, or so that parents and babies experience less sleep disturbance as they do not have to get up in the night to tend to the baby.
Asian cultures are known for their bedsharing habits, both in infancy and beyond. Japan is perhaps the most famous example in which traditional Japanese homes have one room for the family to sleep in—until kids leave the family house.
Countries such as Sweden, Egypt, and Japan value a child-rearing model of interdependence and hold beliefs that co-sleeping is developmentally beneficial to children.
In Japan, many parents sleep next to their baby on bamboo or straw mats, or on futons. Some parents simply room-share by putting the baby in a crib or bassinet that is kept within arm's reach of the bed. Most cultures that routinely practice cosleeping, in any form, have very rare instances of SIDS.
Families in predominantly Asian countries and regions such as Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, or China co-sleep much more frequently than in the United States.
Cosleeping in Korean society was affected mostly by the age of parents and children, attitudes of the mother to cosleeping, and Korean traditional cultural values. The practice of cosleeping in young Korean children is very common and socially acceptable to Korean parents as a natural part of the child-rearing process.
Co-sleeping on mats on the floor is a cultural norm in Asia, where the family traditionally co-sleeps together in the same room. Mats are brought out at night, then stored during the day so the same room is both a living room and a sleeping room,” Harkness said.
It is common practice in Japan to sleep on a very thin mattress over a tatami mat, made of rice straw and woven with soft rush grass. The Japanese believe this practice will help your muscles relax, allowing for a natural alignment of your hips, shoulders and spine.
“There is nothing wrong with cuddling your eight-year-old in bed and, on occasion, sleeping with them for comfort when they're stressed or ill,” says Janet Morrison, a psychological associate from Toronto who assesses children, adolescents and families.
Parents should introduce sleeping in their own spaces as early as five years old. This is when they are fully grown, and still young enough to get used to the norm of having their bed and space.
Co-sleeping is not recommended, but a 7-year-old child sleeping with parents is considered normal in many families and cultures. The American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) warns against co-sleeping at any age, especially if the infant is younger than four months.
Although it may come as a shock to some, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), around half of Japan's single-parent families, most of which are led by single mothers, live in relative poverty. This ranks among the worst in the world's advanced economies.
In Japan, 56% of families headed by single mothers are living below the poverty line. This is the highest of all the OECD nations, with the U.S. coming in a faraway second at 33.5%. Single mothers in Japan struggle enormously, despite living in one of the wealthiest countries in the world.
In Japan there are approximately 1.23 million single mother households.
Hoyoung An, MD, who write in Sleep Medicine Research, Korea's tradition of co-sleeping stems from not only its parenting philosophies, which prioritize family care over individual privacy but also its home design and architecture.
According to their data, people in the Netherlands are getting the most rest per night, while folks in Singapore and Japan are getting the least.
Prior to the late 1700s cosleeping was the norm in all societies (Davies, 1995). Today in many cultures the practice of cosleeping continues, with babies seen as natural extensions of their mothers for the first one or two years of life, spending both waking and sleeping hours by her side.
As long as there are no obligations – both parties are doing it because they want to – there is no issue. both parent and child can stop co-sleeping when they want. Co-sleeping is a learned behaviour, and can be unlearned at any time.
Dr. Basora-Rovira reminds parents that under the age of 12 months, there should be absolutely no bed-sharing. The AAP updated their sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) guidelines in 2016 to recommend room-sharing for the baby's first year, but to avoid bed-sharing due to accidental suffocation risks.
Is co-sleeping safe? Co-sleeping (aka bed sharing) is not endorsed by the AAP. This decision is based on research showing that bed sharing with babies results in a higher rate of SIDS. The risk of SIDS is even higher if you smoke, drink alcohol before bedtime, or take medicines that make it harder to wake up.
The practice continues to be widespread around the world. Bed-sharing is a tradition in at least 40 percent of all documented cultures, Konner says, citing evidence from Yale University's Human Relations Area Files. Some cultures even think it's cruel to separate a mom and baby at night.
Co-sleeping is associated with an increased risk of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) including sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and fatal sleeping accidents in some circumstances.