Milla Jovovich co-sleeps with her 7 yr old daughter: it builds trust & respect

Milla Jovovich recently welcomed a second daughter, Dashiel Edan, with husband Paul W.S Anderson. Back in the late 1980s when Milla burst onto the scene as a teenage supermodel, I would have never imagined her as a settled-down mother. She and Paul live a very family-oriented life and enjoy making bad zombie movies together. It works for them. Another thing that works for Milla is co-sleeping with her children. She’s always co-slept with 7-year-old Ever Gabo, and now the family bed grows more crowded with the addition of the new baby. Milla spoke with mommy blog Romy and the Bunnies to discuss why she co-sleeps:

She co-sleeps with Ever: “I’ve always been inspired by mothers in Third World countries. I feel that the connection with children and mothers is so strong in places where there are not so many ‘things’ to get in the way. No electronic distraction devices, no high tech baby equipment, just a mother carrying her little one everywhere, sharing a family bed and having the help of all the other women around to raise the baby. I always thought that the Western way of raising kids was so disconnected. Everyone has their cubicle at home, babies go into nurseries, little kids have their own rooms. You are so separated from one another! We have been co-sleeping for years with our daughter and I feel that it’s helped us so much to stay connected as a family.”

The benefits of co-sleeping: “Especially as my husband and I can have such tough work schedules making films, where we’re on set for at least 12 and sometimes 14 hours a day! Because we share sleep at night, our daughter naturally feels very connected to us and that in turn makes her want to please us! She trusts us and listens to what we say. There is an innate sense of respect between us all that I feel can be lacking with some of the other parents and children I see in our society. I feel that some problems that parents say are ‘typical’ i.e. arguing, defiance, tantrums, interrupting, disrespect, disobedience, screaming etc. we just haven’t had to deal with in any serious way!”

It works for Milla, but she doesn’t judge: “When our daughter was a baby, I was so used to living on another schedule that I was a zombie for the first few months! She was never a ‘good’ sleeper, so every 2 or 3 hours I was waking up to feed her and calm her. I never wanted to let her signals go unanswered and letting her ‘cry it out’ was not the way I wanted to raise my child. We’ve always been believers in sharing a family bed or having her in the same room as ours at night. Not that I judge other methods of mothering, I just knew that it wouldn’t make me happy to allow her to be separated from us at night and cry for hours on end. And I always say, whatever you need to do to be a happy mother is the best for baby.”

[From Romy and the Bunnies]

I agree with Milla’s statements on how co-sleeping promotes trust and a connecting bond between child and parent. She’s a little smug with the “no tantrum” claim, and I wonder if the new baby will change that equation. I’ve known a few people who considered themselves to be the most fantastic parents after enjoying a non-argumentative, well-behaved first child. Then a second child arrives with a very different personality, and all bets are off! Co-sleeping sure makes nursing at night easier as long as safety is a priority. The practice works for Milla and her family, and that’s what really matters.

Photos courtesy of Milla Jovovich on Instagram & WENN

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