James McKenna
Rev. Edmund P. Joyce, C.S.C. Professor of Anthropology
Department of Anthropology
Degrees
B.A., University of California, Berkeley; M.A., San Diego State University; Ph.D., University of Oregon
Research Profile
Professor McKenna is regarded as the world's foremost authority on mother-infant co-sleeping and breastfeeding issues, and is one of the chief spokespersons working with the media on these subjects. He holds the Edmund J. Joyce C.S.C. Endowed Chair in Anthropology and directs the Mother-Baby Behavioral Sleep Laboratory. His publications focus specifically on the relationship between sleeping arrangements, feeding method (especially breastfeeding) and risk factors for the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). He is best known for conducing the first ever physiological and behavioral studies of the differences between solitary and co-sleeping mother-infant pairs. McKenna has published over 130 refereed articles in medical, anthropology and psychology journals and completed two monographs on SIDS and infant sleep. He is co-editor of two books: Evolutionary Medicine and Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives (published by Oxford in 1999 and 2008, respectively). In 2007 he published a parenting book for a popular audience entitled Sleeping With Baby: A Parents Guide To Co-sleeping."Contact Information
613
Flanner Hall
631-5547
McKenna.25@nd.edu
