Co-sleeping once baby is here...

[rosie5637]

i have 2 friends whose 6yr olds still share their bed, they can't get them out!

 

[SuperKat]

i have 2 friends whose 6yr olds still share their bed, they can't get them out!

We ran into this problem with my oldest, it was *really* hard to get him out of our bed, even after his brother came!

 

[JadeCrusader]

As long as you're okay sharing your space and you don't drink or do drugs (which even light drinking can make you just enough unaware that you roll over them in the night) then go for it . We're definitely going to co-sleep. I'm a thrasher unless I have a reason not to be. Being still and careful while asleep is instinctual, as someone else said, especially if you're being careful of a baby you love.

Heck, I can even remember when I was a kid and we had slumber parties. We'd all watch movies and then fall asleep in the same bed, but before I went to sleep I'd tell myself "Don't roll into them, that would be weird!", and every single time I'd wake up the next morning in the same position. Your body knows when it's okay to stretch out and when it's not.

Likewise, my MIL told me how she rescued some stray kittens when she was younger. She had them sleep in bed with her and she'd wake up the next morning in the same position with the baby kittens just fine. If a small child caring for kittens can do it, then big mommy caring for her baby can do it!!

 

[mattison]

I co-sleep with Gabe. I love it!

I was not planning to co-sleep, but was so tired in the beginning from BFing every 2 hours, and was sleeping (very poorly) on the couch with him basically attached to my breast that after a month I just decided to take the plunge and co-sleep.

I felt comforted after reading that co-sleeping may reduce the risk of SIDS and you truly do seem to be in tune with your baby. I have snapped awake at the tiniest sqwawk in the early days because the pillow was squishing him or he was too hot or something. I also feel it was a good choice (for me anyways) because I think it is important for young babies to stay close to mom. And I admit, I love waking in the morning with him smiling in my arms.

I do place a long body pillow against DH so that it creates a barrier of sorts because he rolls over and has come close on occassion to rolling onto Gabe, and if possible, I sleep in the middle until my hip starts aching and then switch Gabe to the middle.

As much as I love it, we are going to attempt to get him into his own crib by 6 mos. A downside to co-sleeping is that OH and I cannot snuggle or be intimate. We DTD before bed, LOL, but I do miss being able to be close to him. Plus me switching Gabe sides to nurse sometimes wakes OH up, and he works long days, so he is ready for bubs to move to his own bed.

I am dreading it actually! I feel so comforted by having my little boy right next to me. I kiss him throughout the night and love just having him right next to me..I will co-sleep with all of my babies, I have decided.

I also have a little co-sleeper crib thing that sets up right next to the bed so I can just stick my hand/arm in it and touch bubs, but we were not able to get Gabe to sleep well in it (more than a half hour at one time), and now he rolls over in his sleep sometimes, so we aren't going to use it anymore. But it is a great option for those of you who do not want to co-sleep in bed, but still want to be close!

 

[Srrme]

I co-sleep with my son, and have done so since he came home from the NICU. I was terrified he would stop breathing in his crib, and I couldn't sleep AT ALL the first night he was home because I was constantly checking on him, even though I slept with my hand on him the whole time.

It helped us bond a lot, and we sleep so much better together. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[sunshineray7]

Hi, we co-slept with ds from about a week old. I had an emergency csection and found it really difficult lifting him in and out of his Moses basket, it also really helped with breastfeeding. I put a cotside on my side of the bed so that ds wouldn't fall out and I never got close to smothering him...its like my instinct told me he was there when I was asleep. I do agree its not for everyone and you have to be very careful...I didn't trust him being on hubby's side for a long time.

 

[happygal]

olivia is 16 months old and has always co slept with us x

 

[keepontrying]

I think in the same bed is a recipe for disaster. A number of reasons:

The danger of injuring or suffocation to child.
The lack of intimacy for the couple at a time when they would need it.
The fact that the child will get too used it and the issues it will cause when they eventually go into their won bed ~(I thinks its unfair to do one thing and suddenly change it)
Children IMO need to learn a degree of self soothing.

 

[thelioncub]

I thinks its unfair to do one thing and suddenly change it.

I don't agree with this. If you think about it, the same could be said about the switch from our babies being all snug in our womb, and then suddenly being forced out into the big wide world - which is bright and noisy and no way near as comfy! That must be quite a shock to the system, but babies get used to it and adapt. I think they are better at coping with changes than we ever give them credit for - and that first moment in the world is a prime example.

 

[JadeCrusader]

Children IMO need to learn a degree of self soothing.

I'm not saying you do this at all, so please don't be offended!

The words "self-soothing" just reminded me of how my parents were when I was young: My parents greatly support "self-soothing". Anytime my brother or I cried when my parents didn't feel we needed a bottle or a change, my parents stuck us in the crib or locked us in the other room by ourselves so we could experience "self-soothing". I don't remember this personally because it was too traumatic, but I know it occurred because they told us (which explains all my emotional scars and emotional distance as an adult). I also see them doing it to my brother's kids and it breaks my heart. My brother was over and didn't know what to do to get his baby to stop crying so my parents explained this little trick to him, and it's just so convenient and easy for him that he does it too now; just locks them away until they cry themselves to sleep while they go out and have a smoke. So much easier for them, but oh so traumatic for the child . I wish my parents understood it. They told me that they don't want to spoil the kids. Apparently being picked up, or played with, or comforted when they're sad/scared is spoiling them .

Sometimes a child just wants to be held and they get a dark room to be locked in instead. My parents call this "good parenting", my counselor (that I need because of my parents) calls this emotional neglect.

Like I said, I am in no way inferring you do this, just that I know it happens (because it happened to me). I just hope that I don't overcompensate with my children and actually DO spoil them... https://s1.bbstatic.com/images/smilies/doh.gif

I thinks its unfair to do one thing and suddenly change it.

I don't agree with this. If you think about it, the same could be said about the switch from our babies being all snug in our womb, and then suddenly being forced out into the big wide world - which is bright and noisy and no way near as comfy! That must be quite a shock to the system, but babies get used to it and adapt. I think they are better at coping with changes than we ever give them credit for - and that first moment in the world is a prime example.

I'll have to agree with you here for sure. Plus the fact that when you're co-sleeping and the baby awakes, sometimes all it takes is a reassuring caress from mommy to let the little one know that you're there and they'll go right back to sleep. By the time you stagger out of bed, all the way to baby's room it might have taken so long that the baby has really worked themselves into a fit over being alone and afraid. Then it takes forever to soothe them and calm them back down and maybe get a feeding in, and by that time you're both wide awake. Might as well save yourselves both the energy and just co-sleep so baby doesn't have to be frightened when he/she wakes up, and mommy doesn't have to lose more sleep than necessary.

 

[mrsthomas623]

I am a big fan of co-sleeping with this in the bassinet beside the bed, we never shared the bed, on purpose. As long as it is done safely, I don't see a problem... but I don't feel comfortable sharing the bed because I would never get "good" sleep with my roly poly monster!

 

[Grace10]

We shared a bed for 4 months, but no one was sleeping so we moved our son to a play yard in our bedroom, but with the MamaDoo Kids mattress topper as play yards are hard as a rock. We use both when traveling and both are foldable.

 

[AP]

I was dead set against it with my first, but it is not recommended with extreme preemies either.

I co-sleep with my second, born full term. I love it, but DH sleeps on the couch