could our bedsharing be hurting DS's sleeping?

FortMyersBride

We've been bedsharing w/ DS exclusively since he was about 6 months old. DS is a great sleeper and I think would STTN, but he gets awoken by DH.  DH comes to bed around 1/2am (can't get to bed any earlier due to long work hours).  At that point DS has been sleeping since 8/8:30 and me since about 10pm.  DH always pulls DS towards him to snuggle and DS always wakes up.  A short nursing session or occasionally a pacifier can put him back to sleep (he's never up for good) but I wonder if we're hurting his future sleep habits by awakening him every night.  Backstory: DH is a peds neurosurgeon.  He works very long hours and sometimes doesn't see DS awake for days, the only time he "sees" him being these snuggling times at night.  I know it means a lot to DH both to get to spend time with him personally and b/c he sees a lot of sick kids during the days and it can really get him down sometimes.  

I'd hate to ask DH to stop pulling DS over to snuggle at night, I just worry sometimes that we're creating poor lifelong sleeping habits for him.  We both get up rather early too (better 5 and 5:30) but luckily 95% of the time he is able to sleep through that and sleep in until 7:30 or so.  Plus DH is always on call so his pager is on the nighstand whenever he goes to bed, but luckily that doesn't usually wake him either.  DS is a very happy kid overall, and hates hates hates cribs and playpens so I think we're doing this right, I just don't want him to have sleep issues.  I guess I'm just looking for reassurance.  Kids share bedrooms or beds with siblings who wake them on a regular basis and sleep just fine, right? 

alina*marie

I would hazzard a guess that it's fine. When my younger brother was a baby & toddler he was very sick & they couldn't figure out what was wrong. My parents had to wake him to feed him every couple hours through the night. And he sleeps great. Both as a kid & an adult.

Quazel

I tend to think it is fine. He is getting the right amount of sleep at the right time.  If your DH can go days without seeing him awake then I bet it is just as important to your LO that he sees Daddy that little bit of time and knows he is there with him.  Obviously your H loves it too so I think it is probably making the best of a tough situation.