how do people co-sleep?

[Sams123]

Hi firstly this thread is 100% non judgemental, I just can't sleep tonight and this question has been running through my mind all evening! For those of you who co-sleep either occasionally or every night, how do you do it? Does baby gp in the middle, on top of sheets or under, In their sleeping bag or not? The reason I ask is that on the few occasions when imogen has been unwell and unable to sleep i've brought her in our bed and then I have stayed up all night watching her! DH's cousin had a baby who sadly died of SIDS and he was in bed with them at the time, which I think has put me on edge a bit, but imogen is much older than he was when this sadly happened. I obviously need my sleep when she isnt well so being able to sleep on the few occasions when she is in our bed would be great! We are lucky she is a fab sleeper in her own room in her own cot and sleeps through most nights so day to day this isnt an issie only when she is ill x

 

[Pink Petals]

We have a guardrail on my side and I sleep with LO in the crook of my arm between me and the guardrail. He is breast height, so away from my pillow and we fold the blanket down so it covers my legs, but it isn't on LO. If needed, we use the sheet over us, but we are usually warm enough together that we don't need it. I sleep on my side, with one arm over his head so that he can't wriggle up to the pillow, not that he tries.

I love cosleeping. It has been one of my life's greatest joys and it is the most natural thing in the world IMO.

I am sorry about your cousin's LO. Just goes to show that "cot death" doesn't always happen in a cot. It can happen anywhere.

 

[daddiesgift]

We co slept with our oldest from birth to two years old. He slept in the middle of us with no pillow and covered with our blanket. We never had a close call or scary moment. I was nervous sometimes when he was a newborn but that passed. With our youngest he slept with us from birth till about 9? Months old. Since our oldest was still co sleeping he slept in a crib side carred to our bed. Again no pillow and he got his own blanket. I'm a pretty light sleeper and OH and I don't move a lot in our sleep so I never really worried about it. Baby on the way will be co sleeping as well till she's ready to move.

 

[Seity]

I built an attachment for the side of our bed. It had 3 sides and was open toward our bed. He slept in that under his own blankets and I just pulled him over to feed, then moved him back into his space when he finished. When my boys are poorly, I sleep on the couch with them in the crook of my arms. Honestly, I'm so hyper aware of them due to breastfeeding that even when he'd inch his way over to me in the night, I'd sense his presence and wake.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I am so intune with her. I actually think her in my room makes it safer x

 

[MindUtopia]

For us, she's in her sleeping bag and she lies next to me with me on my side. I have the duvet over the lower half of my body, but under my arm and away from her. My arm also comes above my head between her head and my pillow. Basically I use one arm to keep her from getting near the pillow and one to hold the duvet away from her. She mostly sleeps either facing me or away from me (then we spoon). We've co-slept for 13 months now (with a few nights spent in her cot simply because that's where she fell asleep and stayed all night, otherwise we bring her in to be when she wakes up). You do have to be a bit more careful with little babies, especially if you aren't used to co-sleeping, but once they are bigger, they can pretty much fend for themselves and will keep themselves in a safe position assuming your bed is generally safe and you aren't under the influence of any medications, drugs or alcohol. Kids are pretty resilient beings. I really do think that so many of the SIDS deaths are just people who got too tired and passed out on their babies. You don't know how many times I've heard someone say 'but I don't want to co-sleep, it's not safe, so I sit up in bed or on the sofa all night holding her and trying to stay awake'. These are the folks who tend to get in trouble because they are overly tired and not in a safe sleep position. The research on SIDS and co-sleeping actually never studied if people planned to co-sleep, only if they fell asleep on a sofa or bed with their baby, which are very different things. Actually, the countries with the highest co-sleeping rates also have the lowest SIDS rates, which probably has a lot to do with their health behaviors and health care than just how their babies sleep, but it's not coincidental either.

 

[sequeena]

Very easily

Thomas slept on my side at that age with a bed guard to make sure he didn't fall out. I had 1 pillow and a thin blanket/sheet (I wore warm pjs). Thomas wore his usual bedtime clothing with a sleeping bag on top. He was breast height and I either had my arm around the top of his head and I held him to me.

Now he sleeps in the middle, takes all the duvet and kicks me in the head

 

[JenX]

We didn't start cosleeping until she was about 8 months old, so I don't worry as much as I would have when she was tiny. I have a bed rail on my side so I can switch which boob she is on. I do that 2 or 3 times in a night. Like the other posters have said, she is at breast level so her head stays away from the pillows. She's a hot kid and we live in a warm climate, so she sleeps in a short romper. I generally cover her with the top sheet and the light quilt we use, but she usually kicks it off. I worried at first, but now I wish we'd tried it sooner as we all sleep better.

 

[supertabby]

We don't cosleep all night, he starts off in a crib next to the bed but if he's unsettled I bring him in the bed. He's 8 weeks tomorrow.

I sleep in a nursing nightie, if I'm bringing him into bed I fold down the duvet so it's just covering me from knees down and I put on my lightweight dressing gown (not fastened up) to keep my arms warm.

Hubby sleeps in another room at the moment anyway so I sleep on the outside side and DS next to me - he'd have to roll over a lot of times to get to the other side.

I have one pillow on the bed, under my head and I sleep on my side with my arm under the pillow. DS srarts off on his side facing me as he'll be feeding, when he falls asleep he'll often flip onto his side but lesn his head on my boob like a pillow lol. My other arm stretches down my body and I put my hand between my knees - to support my arm and stop my arm flailing around in my sleep. I'd have to move my arm to be able to roll onto DS in my sleep and I never move it (even though sometimes I end up with a stiff arm).

He wears the same as in the crib, with a cellular blanket over him but we're switching to a sleeping bag this week.

 

[Dragonfly]

I bed shared with all mine. Start I was scared with all the ignorance I had on the topic. got more confident and learned more. No pro bed sharer lol I couldn't sleep with my baby in another room or away from me it dosnt feel safe. I had one in the middle when I had one baby. But then when I had more it was the outside side and a cot rail against bed. Own blankets and loads of snuggles. Wouldn't change it for the world. Babies do not die of SIDS in beds. If anything there are some who do it unsafe and its suffocation not sids. Statically its more babies die in cots of SIDS.

 

[Shadowy Lady]

we coslept until she was 6 weeks old. What we did is purchase an Arms-reach cosleeper and attached it to my side of the bed...it's like a little sidecar. It worked great for us an I 100% recommend it. It's very safe and convenient.

 

[jessicatunnel]

My husband is deployed so it's just me and lo in a queen sized bed. He starts the night on "his" side of the bed, no blankets, no pillows. Then when he wakes up for his first feed, I pull him over to me and feed him laying down. He usually stays nestled into my chest the rest of the night.