Shhh...My Child Is Sleeping (in My Bed, Um, With Me)
Like the parents mentioned in this article, we never planned to co-sleep. In fact, I was against the thought of it while pregnant with my first.
Yup.
And then he was born. ;) He was colicky, some sleep was better than no sleep, and we started bringing him in bed with us. We grew into a co-sleeping family, and by our next pregnancy, we had planned to co-sleep. On purpose this time. lol. We enjoy it.
I won't go into a lengthy post on it now (you can go here to read my earlier post on how we came to co-sleep). I just wanted to share the article. Enjoy!
PS-if you are a co-sleeping family, too, leave a comment and share. I'm really curious how many people go into it deliberately, or by reaction to the type of child their first was. Thanks!
Yup.
And then he was born. ;) He was colicky, some sleep was better than no sleep, and we started bringing him in bed with us. We grew into a co-sleeping family, and by our next pregnancy, we had planned to co-sleep. On purpose this time. lol. We enjoy it.
I won't go into a lengthy post on it now (you can go here to read my earlier post on how we came to co-sleep). I just wanted to share the article. Enjoy!
PS-if you are a co-sleeping family, too, leave a comment and share. I'm really curious how many people go into it deliberately, or by reaction to the type of child their first was. Thanks!
14 comments:
I don't know if this qualifies as co-sleeping, but me and my three kids sleep in the same room, my bedroom. Hubby works nights, and the nights he is home, he sleeps in a craftmatic bed for his back. When he works, my son (12) sleeps in his bed, my middle daughter sleeps on a crib mattress on the floor (10) and my baby (almost 6) sleeps in bed with me. She has since she was about a year old. And I love it! The nights hubby's home, both older kids sleep on the floor.
I live in a 4 bedroom house, and each kid has their own room. They just like sleeping in mine!
I want you to know that because of you and your kind, I've become the devil's advocate for co-sleeping. Every time I hear someone say "You're gonna roll over and kill that baby!!!" I gotta educate 'em.
We don't co-sleep. I can not STAND being touched when I'm sleeping, it drives me crazy. I did sleep with Ace in my arms several times when he was much younger because like you said, some sleep is better than no sleep. As exhausted as I was, I was sho 'nuff gonna bring that kid into bed with me.
I don't think people should form hard-line opinions about certain things till they have kids - and even then, they shouldn't. Some things work for some families, others don't.
Sharon-
Great post and I love the post you wrote before Brennan was born. You sounded exactly how I was right before Amelia was born.
We knew we were going to co-sleep before Landen was born. We had the crib set up, just in case we decided to put him in his own room, but it was never used (never used for Amelia either, I just took it down last week - goodbye crib!)
My family co-sleeped and I never thought anything was wrong with it. It's so wonderful. We also had a littl bed between the wall and our bed for Landen when he was getting a little older and I was pregnant - I was just too big for three of us in a queen all the time. Now, Landen has a little matress on the floor next to our bed, Amelia, kurt and I sleep in the big bed. Usually though landen is up with us.. it's four in the bed ... a queen sized bed. LOL
We are squished but it's when he needs us, he needs to be cuddled.
I would never do it any other way.
I could go on and on. Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing.
We had the exact same experience as you. One of the blessings of a colicky baby. :)
Even though you know how I feel on this subject (we blab about it all the time "off-blog"--ha ha!), I still wanted to say I loved this post--Thanks for getting the word out there so we can look like the caring parents were really are rather than appearing to be freaks to some of the parents who don't understand the great benefits of co-sleeping for some families :o)
You're fantastic!!
We are proud co-sleepers here.
Never intended to co-sleep. Honestly, thought it was for hippy/granola types or people who couldn't afford a crib.
After an exhaustive month of having a breastfed baby who nursed every hour, around the clock, I brought him into bed.
We've never looked back. Didn't even bother setting up a crib for DS2. The pack-n-play works for naptime and takes up a lot less room!
We finally moved two queen beds together so that all four of us could sleep comfortably together! But we didn't have DS1 sleep with us until DS2 came along. DS1 was bottle fed but now that I am a SAHM I nurse DS2. I was a little concerned about co-sleeping when I was prego with DS2 but WOW! I get so much more sleep now than I did with DS1 when he was an infant. Co-sleeping does seem much more natural however DS1 sometimes is a bed hog and sometimes talks in his sleep so that can be rough.
I posted here before I read the article. We do the opposite of what many co-sleeping families do. DS1 (who is 2.5 yo) will start the night off in our bed then when we go to bed DH will put him in his own bed. That way we can get a few hours of good sleep. Sometimes DS1 will sleep the rest of the night in his bed but sometimes he comes back into our bed. Either way is fine with us.
I admire all of you who do this. I just can never get comfortable with kids in my bed and wake up with a sore neck and back and just plain tired form lack of sleep. I have only slept a few times with babies in my bed because of this. I think it is great though and am glad that there are so many loving and nurturing parents out there.
That is a wonderful article, I think am going to share it as well! We didn't plan on co sleeping but then Mary was born and she isn't exactly the easiest baby, she sleeps so much better with us and I actually get to sleep!!! It is always nice to know there are other families out there doing this too.
Stacey-
I want you to know that because of you and your kind, I've become the devil's advocate for co-sleeping.
Yesss!!!! Thanks. ;) I appreciate it. (& to be honest, I hated being touched falling asleep, too. That's when we first got married, though. lol. Dh would try to curl into me, and it drove me bonkers!)
Carol-thank you. Your perspective makes a huge difference! I never thought of it as a blessing of a colicky baby. You are right. :)
Diva Mom Vicki-
Never intended to co-sleep. Honestly, thought it was for hippy/granola types or people who couldn't afford a crib.
Yup, that's how I felt before, too. Plus I bought into the "it's not safe" bit.
I wish our boys could play together!
Elissa-thanks for stopping by! :)
And like you, I found I got MORE sleep w/ co-sleeping than not. Anything for sleep!
momwats8-thanks for your support. :)
I wish it could be more peaceful like this everywhere. lol. Those "mommy wars" take their toll after a while!
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