Sleep while holding babies?

NJLH

I posted yesterday that one of my girls will only sleep in my arms in the glider (thanks for everyone's responses). I'm too afraid to fall asleep with the baby in my arms. Is there a safe way to doze off holding a baby in the glider or bed? Thanks!

ncsubride

I don't really think there is a safe way to do this, I know everyone has done it (myself included). 

Kerri

enail5

My babies slept in a Kangaroo Korner sling on me or DH in the beginning. 

Heather.D

I was the one who was talking about sleeping and holding babies. While I agree it isn't the safest thing, and I never thought I would be doing it, I am and it works for us. The way that we hold our babies at night is to sleep by sitting up in bed with our back resting on a pile of pillows behind us.  This way, I'm not sitting straight up, thus not as likely for my head to fall forward. We hold the babies like normal, which is the cradle hold with one of their heads resting in the "crook" of my left arm. We have pillows underneath them so they can't fall down and we have them on an incline so they are facing us and if they would roll (they aren't rolling over yet) they would fall into us.

 It's really hard to explain it in words, so I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense.  As I said, I don't think there is any 100% safe way to sleep while holding babies.  I've never suggested anyone else do this, but it sounds like you are in a situation similar to what we were in when we started doing this. It is working for us now. The babies sleep from 10-4, eat, then go right back to sleep until 8 again.  Around 12-16 weeks, we will start with a modified cry it out if we are comfortable with it then. We are going to reassess at that time.

Hope that helps. My husband is a doctor and he was not comfortable with this until the first night he also tried it and found how well the girls slept. Now we both take a baby and sleep the same way. Best of luck w/ whatever you decide.

lutzcowgirlie

https://www.iparenting.com/sears/columns/co-sleep.htm

 

I am a co-sleeping advocate - it worked for me with all of my kids. I don't do it all the time or every night, they spend most of their time in their cribs. However, in order for everyone to get sleep, it can work very well for parents and babies.

 

Trying to sit up and hold a baby can be dangerous, as can sleeping on a couch - they can easily slip down and be trapped. You can get baby to sleep on you, then you can put baby into bed with you lying down and they will still get the benefits (contact, your smell and heartbeat) but you can also sleep and do so safely. If you think you want to try this there are plenty of places to read more about safety precautions. Dr. Sears, who wrote the article I linked to, is an advocate - you can probably find more on his site. Good luck.