While James, who needed to get to work in the morning, slept in splendid isolation, Jo and and baby Jack shared the same bed until, aged three-and-a-half, Jack went into his own bedroom at his own insistence Jack still comes into his mother’s bed from time to time. Now it’s two a week, always to couples with children.”"Sleeping apart is in fact a relatively new and limited development in human evolution, dating from about the turn of the 19th century,” says Dr David Haslam, author of the book Sleepless Children. “On a global scale, more mothers sleep with their children worldwide than they do with their partners. It is only in a tiny corner of the Western hemisphere that separate bedrooms are the rule.”Today, in the West, more and more parents are returning to the idea of having their babies in bed with them; other countries have avoided this trauma by following this age-old tradition throughout.”James and Jo Murphy, parents of six-year-old Jack, adopted the “traditional” approach when Jack was only a few weeks old. For the last 100 years or so, allowing a child into the parental bed was thought to be the quickest way of spoiling the child.Bed-sharing or co-sleeping is one reason why the size of a British double bed is increasing.
While sales of “standard” doubles, at 4ft 6in, have fallen, sales of “King-size” 5ft and even 6ft beds have increased in the last five years, according to figures from the Sleep Council. Warren Evans, who has been making beds for 20 years at his workshop in north London, says: “Twenty years ago I would sell about 10 6ft beds a year. But if he wakes up after about five in the morning, then we know now that the only way we will get another hour’s sleep is by having him in bed with us.”
The Chamberlains’ relaxed attitude to sharing the hitherto sacrosanct marital bed with the children has recently become fashionable again. “We try to avoid him coming in at one or two in the morning, unless we are in a strange place, or he is ill. “I think especially if children are ill or obviously upset, then there is no point trying to confine them to their own beds,” says Natasha, 32, a schoolteacher. His parents, Natasha and Richard, are relaxed about Thomas’s nocturnal bed-hopping, as long as they have enough privacy and at least start the night without the company of their little darling. THOMAS CHAMBERLAIN, nearly three, has his own beautifully decorated bedroom, and his own little wooden bed.
Yet often, if he is upset, unwell or simply waken up too early, he will finish off the night sleeping in his parents’ double bed. Call 01908 672787.`Women Unlimited – The Directory for Life’ is published by Penguin at pounds 9.99. Call Ofgas on 0171 828 0898.London Electricity on 0181 535 0000 offers telephone assessment of homes and advice.The Council for Energy Efficiency Development on 01428 654011(e-mail theceed compuserve ) provides an information pack on energy efficiency measures and an energy rating of your home.Gas Consumers Council offers free advice on 0171 931 0977.Centre for Alternative Technology on 01654 702400 offers advice on eco- friendly alternatives measures.National Energy Services Ltd offers a home energy ratingfrom pounds 40-100. Be careful.For major jobs chose a professional installer registered with an appropriate body.Advice and grantsThe Home Energy Efficiency scheme funded by the Department of the Environment gives grants of up to pounds 315 To qualify you must be on benefit or over 60.