The bedroom is prepared for this eventuality, all blue or pink, with a beautiful cot, sheets and toys. All is ready for the harmonious life that the new family will lead.

Suddenly the baby is born and the parents have to confront a reality that's very different from their expectations. Baby poos a lot, cries either a lot or lots and lots, has a different sleep pattern to the parents and wants to eat every two hours. 

It's very difficult for the parents to adapt to this new lifestyle. However, for the lucky ones, their family will be there to help them through this difficult period. Auntie Vera will explain that one mustn't respond to the cries of the baby, you wouldn't want to spoil him now, would you? So the parents wonder what to do. Should we leave our new baby to cry all by themselves? He will stop eventually, right, and we can stop feeling tortured? We'll leave him in his room as under no circumstances do we want him to be too attached to us and therefore to have a spoilt brat. And, of course, he must never come into the parents' bed lest he become too attached.

 
And yet sometimes, deep down inside yourself, you feel that this is wrong, that baby should come into the family bed. Added to that, you are so tired that anything to help the baby sleep so you can just get a few more winks... after all, just once won't  do any harm.

 
Actually what your baby needs above all else is physical contact and the feeling of security that it gives them. Imagine being so little and not understanding what's happening around you. Is the mobile hanging from the ceiling a nice toy or a monster about to eat your little one? He doesn't know! Babies and young children evolved sleeping with their parents, it's only in the 20th century that they started sleeping alone and they are just not developed mentally for that. Moreover, this is very much a Western practice. In many other countries such as Japan and India, it's still quite common for parents to sleep with their children.