Co-sleeping: The pros

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Should you share a bed with your baby?

YES: Co-sleeping is kinder to babies

Child psychotherapist Margot Sunderland says: 'I was seeing children all the time whose parents didn't co-sleep with them, and they were in a real mess; terribly stressed out and with high levels of cortisol, particularly if they were at day nursery. Their needs for physical affection were just not being met.

In my research I've found that putting babies in a cot in another room is going against genetic programming, which is why 90 per cent of the world's population co-sleeps. When human babies are separated from their mum's body, they cry. If they don't get a response from her, they'll be quiet. But this reaction is a survival technique, which is accompanied by fluctuations in breathing, temperature and heart rate.

The immune system is also lowered and the digestive tract doesn't work properly. As soon as we put the baby back in skin-to-skin contact with the mother, all those things stabilise and wonderful feel-good chemicals are activated.

I'm trying to tell parents that they can make up their own minds about co-sleeping. They have a right to know what they're doing to a child's brain, that they're either activating feel-good or stress chemicals.

Co-sleeping should take place from birth as long as all the safety measures are followed properly. Some babies may require less co-sleeping, and others may need more, depending on their temperament and sensitivity.'