James McKenna, PhD

Professor James J. McKenna is recognized as the world’s leading authority on mother-infant co-sleeping especially in relationship to breastfeeding and SIDS. As director of Notre Dame’s Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory, he is known for conducting the first ever physiological and behavioral studies of the differences between solitary and co-sleeping mother-infant pairs. In recognition of his work in 2009 he was admitted as a Fellow into the select body of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's most prestigious scientific society.

McKenna is a strong proponent of co-sleeping and focuses his research specifically on the relationship between sleeping arrangements, feeding method and risk factors for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). He has published more than 130 scholarly articles in medical, anthropological and psychology journals and is the author or “Sleeping with Baby: A Parent’s Guide to Co-Sleeping.”