How Do Japanese Families Sleep With Newborns?
Many Japanese families sleep close to their babies, often sharing a room and sometimes sharing a sleeping surface, although practices vary from household to household. Traditional floor bedding, including futons, may make it easier for family members to sleep near one another, but you should not assume that an adult futon is a safe sleep surface for a newborn.
Check the product’s listed specifications when evaluating newborn sleep in japan.
In Japan, sleeping near family members is often called kawanoji , a word describing people lying side by side, and some parents keep their babies close for nighttime care. If you want your newborn nearby, you can room-share without bed-sharing by placing a crib, bassinet, or play yard that meets current U.S. safety standards beside your bed.
Check the product’s listed specifications when evaluating room-sharing and bed-sharing.
Featured in this guide
Baby Sleep Decoded, Patterns Made Simple – Baby Sleep Patterns Explained eBook for New Parents, Infant Sleep Cycles, Newborn to 12 Months Sleep Guide
For every sleep, place your baby on their back on a firm, flat sleep surface with a fitted sheet, and keep pillows, loose blankets, soft toys, and other items out of the sleep area. Adult beds, sofas, armchairs, and soft floor futons can pose suffocation or entrapment risks, so move your baby back to their own sleep space after feeding or comforting them.
Check the product’s listed specifications when evaluating make your baby’s sleep space safe.
Newborns wake frequently, so keeping a safe sleep space in your room can make nighttime feeding and settling more manageable while giving your baby a separate place to sleep. For more on changing routines, explore our first-year baby sleep pattern guide and our Baby Sleep Decoded, Patterns Made Simple eBook, which covers sleep patterns from newborn through 12 months.
Yes, some families in Japan sleep close to their babies, whether in the same room or on the same sleeping surface, but not every family does so. For your newborn, we recommend keeping them close in a separate, safety-approved sleep space rather than sharing an adult bed or futon.
Japan has reported relatively low rates of sudden infant death syndrome, but no single sleep practice explains the difference. How deaths are classified and recorded can vary between countries, so we recommend following current safe-sleep guidance rather than relying on a country’s reported rate.
Leave a comment