I've resisted co-sleeping with Tiny Boy because he's, well, tiny. Although I slept with LG directly next to me for most of her first 2.5 years, I never really worried about any of that stuff you're supposed to worry about when co-sleeping, like rolling over on your child.
But last night, after putting him in the moses basket and listening to him cry and hearing all the creaks and moans in my own body, I held him until he fell back to sleep and then just dumped him next to me in the middle of the bed. And woke to him sandwiched under my left breast around 4:30, which seemed as good a cue as any that he wanted to eat.
So while I'm still vaguely worried about smothering him (didn't realize he could scoot that much), wow, sleep.
Yeah. I just KNEW I was NEVER going to do ANYTHING so irresponsible as co-sleeping...
ReplyDeleteYeah.
We co-slept til Henry was old enough to prefer to be on his own for sleeping, and I don't regret it at all. Granted, I made really sure that we were as safe as possible--no bedclothes around him (or me, for that matter) no big nightclothes on either of us, and I wasn't sleeping particularly soundly anyway, so I was instantly UP when he woke up. But I (and he) never would have slept otherwise, and as it was, it was a lovely experience that I'm so glad we had together. Glad you're (both) getting some sleep!
I'd read a book (I seem to remember "Our Babies, Ourselves" as the title) during pregnancy with LG that talked about co-sleeping, among other things, and by putting that practice in a cross-cultural context really debunked the sleeping-with-your kids=higher risk of SIDS myth. Actually convinced me of the opposite. Now I've probably got a healthy bit of skepticism all around (makes no evolutionary sense for my baby to PREFER sleeping under my left breast if he's safer on his own across the room, right? but also why tempt the fates with pillows, etc).
ReplyDeleteSo I slept with LG, first in the snuggle nest and then just next to me, from the very beginning and off and on until 2.5 probably (though she also slept in a crib for naps and at the beginning of the night, before I went to bed). But she seemed sturdy in a way that Tiny Boy doesn't, at least not yet. The other thing that freaks me out is that on my bed he easily manages to flip from back to side to stomach...
A friend told me recently--and I don't have the stats--that a huge percentage of families actually co-sleep (when asked if they have kids in bed with them for all or part of the night) but they will deny if if asked more generally if they "co-sleep."
We were quite the cosleepers as well.. LOVED IT. Miss it at times. ;)
ReplyDeleteAh, why worry? I was another one of those "I'm NEVER going to sleep with my child" parents. This plan worked semi-well with my older son, after he was about five months old, anyway. However, my younger son just turned 3 and is still in bed with us after his first nighttime waking--nope, still not sleeping through the night.
ReplyDeleteIt's partly a matter of logistics: his crib is in the room with me and my husband, since the boys aren't ready to share a room; and co-sleeping means better sleep for everyone, since it promotes a quick end to nighttime crying or calling out. I appear to be living with a household of males who are easily woken and cranky when they don't get their full night's sleep. The co-sleeping has got to stop sometime, but I'm enjoying it more than I thought I would. Honestly, I think we'd have been better off to let the older son co-sleep longer, but we were so hell-bent on doing things by whatever book we thought we were doing things by.
With my first son I got him a portable contoured changing pad (the one with a 'seat belt' of sorts) which I laid on my bed beside me. It raised my son off the bed but kept him near me at all hours and allowed us to co-sleep and nurse when needed. 4 years later, with my second son I did the same thing, but laid the pad near my pillow as his brother was in bed with us too.
ReplyDeleteDo what's comfortable and safe for you both - you know best for yourselves.
---ST