Alicia Silverstone has revealed she still sleeps next to her 11-year-old son, claiming she is simply ‘following nature’.
The 45-year-old has insisted that there’s nothing wrong with their co-sleeping, but joked that she could receive backlash from ‘mum shamers’ upon making the confession.
Alicia shares Bear Blu with ex-husband Christopher Jarecki, from whom she split in 2018.
She has now compared their sleeping arrangements to what humans do when ‘trying to survive in any kind of wild setting’.
Speaking on The Ellen Fisher Podcast, she admitted: ‘Bear and I still sleep together’.
‘If you were in any kind of wild setting where there are wild animals, if you put you baby over there your baby is going to get eaten, so it’s not ideal for the baby to be over there,’ she added.
Co-sleeping is frequently criticised by experts, with critics warning that sharing a bed with your baby can increase their risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Following on from this, parents can follow ‘attachment parenting’ principles with the intention of forming a close bond with their child by breastfeeding, sleeping together, and bathing together.
Critics have warned that these practices can lead to children becoming heavily reliant on their parents, placing more stress on both parties.
Also in the podcast, Alicia talked about how she rarely used nappies on her son during potty training.
She added that she never raised her voice at him: ‘I believe in love, I believe in nature and our society is scared of nature and scared of love,’ she said.
In response to possible criticism, the American actress said: ‘I don’t really care’, acknowledging that she is likely to ‘be in trouble’.
Along with her ‘loving’ parenting principles, the star also cuts out TV from their family home in a bid to make the ‘healthiest’ choices for her son.
‘The things I’m doing I’m not inventing, I didn’t invent any of it. I would love to take credit for all of it but it’s not me unfortunately, it’s just me following nature’, she said.
‘I’m just wanted to do what was healthiest for him at every turn so every choice I make is either built on instinct or deep research.’
This isn’t the first time Alicia has made headlines for her controversial parenting practices.
In 2012, she sparked outrage after posting a video of her feeding her son – who was 11 months at the time – like a baby bird, chewing his food before passing it from her mouth into his.
Two years later, she spoke about her choice to not circumcise her son, despite being raised in a Jewish household, writing: ‘If little boys were supposed to have their penises “fixed,” did that mean we were saying that God made the body imperfect?’
Most recently in 2020, she told the New York Times that she and Bear still take baths together.