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?
If it’s not causing any issues, don’t worry about it. If it seems to be causing a dependency or increased anxiety around sleeping alone, then maybe it’s not a good idea. There doesn’t seem to be any consensus among psychologists. Some like it, some hate it. So the best you’re going to be able to do is keep track of how it affects you both and change things up if it becomes a problem.