Co-sleeping

Zarea

Hi, my baby is 20 weeks old now and sleeps in bed with me. She has never been a good sleeper and I have struggled with it from day one. Recently she went through a 5 week stretch where she was up every hour all night long. Even now, she wakes up 3 to 4 times on a good night. I am back at work and being sleep deprived is very hard. Co-sleeping works for us, it allows me to get some rest and makes breastfeeding easier. I am well aware of all the warnings against it out there, and that most people condemn it. However, I would like to hear the experiences of mom's who do/did co-sleep, their thoughts about it and such. Thank you!

astraealynn

do you mean bed sharing or co-sleeping? in my experience, bed sharing is something everyone condemns until their baby is born. not all, of course. i know lots of mamas that exclusively bed share and some mamas that do it only for certain times like napping. it's really YOUR comfort level, what YOU feel is right for you and your baby. to hell with anyone that wants to judge you or tell you you're doing something wrong. you're educated. I personally try not to bed share at night but do bed share in the morning during nap time. last night however, my husband went to the couch so i could sleep with LO in the bed because he's hit his wonder week madness! do what you need to do to get by as long as your educated. if you're not ok, then you're not ok to take care of baby. love and hugs mama!

n3na94

I am currently cosleeping with my son also. He is 21 weeks and he is EBF. The first month he would sleep in his bassinets and wake a couple times a night, so every time around 5am I would bring him to bed with me. I've realized I would wake up more during the night time when he slept in his bassinet because I would constantly be checking up on him. Also we were moving soon, so I was going to wait for him to have his crib set up at the new house to transition. we've been in the new house for a week now and his crib is installed but he is currently waking 3-5 times a night and wants to be held It is a lot easier for us to cosleep and he loves to feel like I'm there with him. And like you said it makes nursing easier for both. I am also well aware of all the warnings but I'm careful and I'm not a crazy sleeper, I still wake from time to time just to take a glimpse of him and see if he's okay, but he sleeps longer and better when he is in bed with me. There's an advice a mama gave here on this board, she said "your baby will only be little once, so while you can enjoy them". I will transition my son when he starts sleeping through the night, in the meantime I'm enjoying this phase and being with him. Enjoy your little girl and good luck!

Handree

I wish that I felt comfortable with my son in my bed, I long for the closeness but I sleep really soundly and I'm afraid he might roll off the bed. I know a lot of moms are light sleepers and would feel it if their baby moved. I say to each their own! Enjoy your night time snuggles.

Ashelee13

We bed share. I'm a light sleeper so anytime she stirs or wakes up I'm awake. But she sleeps from 8pm till 6am usually. We have put her in the pack and play with the bassinet in our room and she sleeps fine in there too. I just prefer to bed share lol.

lindseystans

I bed shared with my baby when she was around 2 months - 4 months. She's now 5 months and in her crib. I'm a light sleeper and she would ONLY sleep in our bed! Didn't matter where we put her, she would immediately wake unless I laid her in our bed. My best advice is to make the bed safe. Do your research. No comforters, gap between mattress and headboard, no lose clothes and if the baby is a mover put mesh bed rails on so baby can't roll off. I didn't mind bed sharing but I knew it just wasn't for me long term. My husband slept in our guest room bc he's such a heavy sleeper and was scared he would roll on her. Since moving to crib I miss feeling her, but I will say I sleep better. Took some time bc I would constantly check the monitor but I know she's okay and safe in there now that she's older. When she was so little I felt she was safer with me. I say bed share until you feel ready to transition, but be smart about it. Babies love being close to their mommies and research shows BF babies do well sleeping with their moms. They're breathing is regulated as well.

qtjo5

I bed share w my 20 week old because I EBF so It is easier for me. Idk when I will transition him to his crib. For right now this works for us.

kristyn831

I bed share for most of the night because I EBF and he's still wakes to nurse every 2-3 hours. He initially goes to sleep in his RnP and if I get up to change his diaper, he goes back in the RnP but if I'm sleeping when he wakes to nurse, he's in the bed with me.

jewels1029

My son usually sleeps in his crib and as been since he was 2 months. Before that it was in a bassinet next to our bed or he was in bed with us. I don't think there's anything wrong with bed sharing as long as you and your partner are comfortable with it. We as moms have that sixth sense and know that our LO is next to us. When he's in bed with us he snuggles up next to mommy and there is something between DH and him. That made my husband more comfortable with him in bed with us. Now at 5months which he'll be on the 9th which is crazy to me felt like yesterday I was bringing him home LO is only in our bed if he is having a restless night and constantly waking. When he's next to me he will sleep soundly till the morning. So every now and then in the MOTN I have to put him in our bed.

jewels1029

I personally would love him to be in bed with me every night bc I love snuggling him and he likes snuggling me. Sometimes he holds onto my hand while he is sleeping. The reason I don't do it all the time bc I don't want to make it a habit. I don't want him to get use to it to the point he never wants to sleep by himself especially when he is older. My sister had that problem with her oldest when he was little. He was 3 yrs old and wouldn't sleep by himself. She'd put him in his bed and she'd wake up in the MOTN with him in her bed so she'd pick him up put him back in his room. She would do this a couple times a night. It took her a several weeks of going back n forth to get him to stay in his own bed all night.

shaley29

I was afraid to bed share for the first few months, even though my mom kept saying it would benefit breastfeeding and was easy lol that was until she hit her sleep regression. She starts the night out in her own bed, but once she wakes (usually around 3am) it's in to bed with mommy and daddy. She sleeps between us so there is no chance she's rolling out, and we both are VERY aware she's there. It works for us, but everyone is different.

bnk2012

I have twins and am currently living apart from my husband, at my parents' house. Unfortunately, the room we are in fits two cribs but only a twin size bed. The boys have been waking up A LOT these last few weeks so while they start off in their cribs, my nights usually go like this: B wakes up, I get up, try to pat his back to go to sleep-give up, take him into bed with me, nurse him, we get all cuddly & sleepy and then A wakes up. I try to sneak out of bed,surround B with pillows, try to get A back to sleep, give up, pick up B, put him back into his crib, pull A into bed with me, nurse him, get cuddly and repeat haha. I love sleeping with them and am looking forward to them getting a little older so I can squeeze them both into this tiny bed...if we are still living here.

AziaNick

We do both. Our daughter sleeps in her crib and also on the bed. Sometimes she is having a good night so she sleeps in the crib all night. Sometimes she isn't, so I grab her and rock her and she lays on me in the bed and sometimes I lay her on the bed to get back to sleep which is usually around 4ish. I feed her and then when my husband wakes up around 530 or 6ish he puts her back in her crib and i grab her when she wakes up for the morning. She sleeps pretty much anywhere which his great. But if she is hungry, needs changed, or over stimulated and can't sleep she can't sleep anywhere hahha we put her in her crib since she was around 1 month.

juliekay25

Lo's slept in his crib since he was born. sometimes he wakes up around 6 and I don't feel like going through the whole routine of feeding and rocking back to sleep so I take him to bed with me. I'll feed him Latin down and he falls back to sleep and we cuddle for a few more hours. This morning he woke up at 6:30 and I brought him to bed and he sleep till 10 this morning. We had a late night so we were tired and slept in. He loves to cuddle in bed in the morning and I love it too.

SBbabyonboard

We have co slept since birth, baby girl has always slept well in her bassinet beside our bed, but since 3 months old she stopped sleeping through the night so she is up multiple times, I'll bring her into bed feed her then back to bassinet but when she wakes around 5-6 for a feeding and hubby heads to work I usually bring her into bed with me, we have a king size bed so I just lay her between 2 pillows and either hold her hand or snuggle up to the pillows so she can still sense me there. I think if we had anything smaller then a queen size bed I would be more nervous about doing this. But everyone has a comfort zone and you do what feels right for u!!