Drastic and potentially dangerous measures are sometimes taken, unfortunately, such as tying babies to their cribs, locking them in their rooms, or giving them tranquillizers. Many of these sleep related problems are probably the result of forcing babies to sleep alone. Despite the advice given by experts, sleeping alone clearly goes against parents' natural desires. Many parents would naturally tend to sleep with their babies if they had never heard any advice to the contrary. In fact, in spite of strict recommendations and the cultural taboo against sleeping with one's children, the practice is actually more common than is generally believed.
Mothers sleep with their infants in all traditional tribal cultures.
One of the assumptions of this book is that babies can be trusted to know what they need for optimal physical and emotional development. Babies' wants and needs are one and the same thing. She needs the closeness and reassurance of having her parents nearby. The infant's biological need for the caretaking adult's constant presence is disregarded in our Western culture, and children are exposed to long hours of solitude owing to the misconception that it is healthy for the young to sleep . The strong need and desire of human babies to sleep near their parents may have its basis in the evolutionary history of our species.