Yup, my wife & I co-sleep with our 5-month old (same reasons as you mentioned) and also our 3 year old (who could have her own bed if she wanted, but she likes

Yup, my wife & I co-sleep with our 5-month old (same reasons as you mentioned) and also our 3 year old (who could have her own bed if she wanted, but she likes being in the big nest), and generally we all sleep well. We researched risks beforehand, and found (no links because this is from memory...) that it would be a bad idea if we used alcohol/sleeping pills/etc., or were obese -- we don't/aren't, and in the 3+ years we've been co-sleeping we've never even bumped a child in the night and upset it. I know people (and hear about people) who accidentally punch their spouses, sleepwalk, etc. during the night -- if you have a history of that kind of thing, I wouldn't recommend it. If you don't, this is a nice setup. My personal experience is that I'm hyperaware of the baby in the bed even while mostly-asleep (like when changing position during the night), and in the morning have very foggy memories of turning over very carefully. We generally head to bed gradually starting around 10pm (but I often read the older girl more stories downstairs while my wife gets the baby to sleep first), and the kids wake up anywhere from 8:30 to 10:30 the next morning -- usually later rather than earlier, so I get some work done in a quiet house before they get up. Side-note: we got a co-sleeping bed (a crib that attaches to the side of the bed, basically) but it quickly became a toychest; the babies didn't want to be set aside. Now we sleep sideways in the bed (headboard/footboard means no one rolls out the "sides") and the grown-ups put their feet in the co-sleeping attachment. edit: forgot to mention that obesity is a risk factor for co-sleeping.