A mum has shared the reasons why she lets her daughter share a bed with her.
The parent posted in Reddit’s parenting forum to explaining why she lets her four-year-old daughter sleep in her bed.
“As a full time single parent with a wild schedule, I do NOT at all mind,” the mum started her post. “I love having her next to me. It’s sad that society makes me feel like I SHOULD be ashamed she is almost five still sleeping in my bed. But I’m not. Not even a little.”
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She said the sleeping arrangement works ‘in the meantime’ and her daughter has her own room for ‘whenever she is ready’.
“When she’s older, she might not even like me so in the meantime if she wants me to hold her and sleep next to her I am absolutely going to do that.
“I feel so good knowing she is right here next to me if anything was to happen in the middle of the night and if she had a bad dream, I’m right here for her too.”
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“And don’t worry - she has her own room. Whenever she is ready she has a whole room waiting for her. But until then I’m gonna soak up all these snuggles and maybe by posting this, other parents won’t feel too alone if they are in the same boat as me!”
Parents took to the comments section to support the mum’s decision and shared their own sleeping arrangements with their children.
One parent wrote: “No judgement here if you are both happy. It just frustrates me when the mom/parents want their kid out of their bed, but they say 'I need my bed back but [four, five, six-year-olds] can't sleep without me'. They totally can if you want them out the kid will adjust.
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“But your situation is different because you are happy with the arrangement.”
Another person shared: “My boys start in their own beds. They wander. Then I end up with little elbows in my ear. I miss sleep.”
A third person responded with: “Society will make you feel ashamed for anything you do as a parent lol.
“As long as your little one is happy/healthy, you’re not stifling their growing independence, or using them as a comfort object, more power to you! There is no one way to parent.”
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Just like the mum who posted the thread, other parents explained they let their children sleep in their beds because one day they won’t be able to anymore. One parent wrote: “My boy is seven, almost eight, and he will still try to lay on top of me sometimes. It hurts, but I let it ride until I can't because the day is getting closer to when I won't be able to share a bed with him anymore and that'll probably hurt more.”
Someone else wrote: “Mine could sleep with me until I go to the other side. My 10 year old still snuggles with me and I love every second of it.”
The Reddit thread comes after celebrities including Christina Ricci and Alicia Silverstone revealed their sons still share a bed with them.
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The Clueless star, 45, shared her parenting techniques on The Ellen Fisher Podcast and why she lets her 11-year-old son, Bear, sleep in her bed.
"If you were in any kind of wild setting where there are animals... if you put your baby over there, your baby is going to get eaten,” she said on the podcast in July. “It's not ideal for the baby to be over there.”
This week, The Addams Family actress Christina Ricci, 42, revealed her eight-year-old son Freddie sleeps in her bed while her nine-month-old daughter Cleopatra sleeps on her own.
“The fact that I can put her down in her crib and she just goes to sleep when my eight-year-old still sleeps with me is amazing,” she told People.
Gregory Robinson