Swapping sides of the bed

[BuffaloCauliflower]

Ridiculous subject, but I’d be grateful for collective wisdom!
DH and I are TTC and thinking we might need to switch sides of the bed to accommodate mine and newborns needs. We have stupid built in cupboards that restrict how things are positioned in our room (rented so can’t rip them out). His current side has much more space and would make more sense for a cot, so would be better for me.
But after 7 years sleeping one way I’m a bit stressed at the prospect of change! Is this ridiculous?! Has anyone else managed to change? Is it only me who’s so wedded to one side of the bed and I need to get over it?

We did it years ago for the same reason, it was awful. And I took ages to get used to it. But we didn't do it until the baby was born. I would change now so you adjust before the baby comes.

Before we moved, DH had the cot on his side of the bed (my side of we by a radiator). It didn't occur to us to swap!!

Oh no, I couldn’t swap sides so easily.

We tried once because I wanted to sleep and dp was gonna watch tv in bed and got a better view on my side.

I had to make him swap back as soon as he was finished. It just didn’t feel right at all!

We did it for the same reason. It ws horrendous. Sorry OP! I never got comfortable and I didn't sleep well again until we moved DD into her own room and I went back to my own side. Bliss.

I can't swap sides of the bed or change the orientation of the bed very easily.

I was about to scoff gently at you, but then I realised that even though I now sleep alone most nights (I don’t live with my DP), I have never crossed over to The Other Side. It was ex’s side before, and now it’s DP’s even in absentia.

It’s a bigger deal than I’ve ever consciously realised

We did this when I first got pregnant because I wanted to start learning to sleep well on my left side, & moved to the left side of the bed to make this easier, & also because there is more room for a bedside crib. It was a bit off at first but I got used to it quickly. If you’re a bit stressed about the prospect of moving sides, give it a trial for a bit! Agree with a PP to do it now & get used to it.

This is beyond serious. We have never swapped sides. How can you do this.

It literally us the dark side.

• Is the dark side.

And we have to have the bed orientated correctly with regard to magnetic north.

I slept on the left for 10 years. When we bought our current house, DH decided he would sleep on the left as it's nearest the door and if any intruders got in, he would need to defend me from them (it hadn't bothered him in our previous two houses and he would be highly likely to sleep through any invasion anyway). But we swapped. It was ok, it lasted until I had DS2, 10 months later and then the Moses basket and cot would only fit on the left side so we swapped back. I much prefer being back on my side!

Im going to do it now and freak my dh out when. He gets out of the bathroom. Mwah ha ha ha

We've swapped twice in 19 years. Once for DC3 and again for DC4.
I thought it would take time to adjust but was so knackered from the night feeds I would have slept anywhere.

Yep we did it too and it was awful, neither of us slept! Maybe trial it now to see how it goes

We swapped (well, I swapped, he had to take the remaining space) when DD1 was tiny. It was to protect me from her and DS coming in every night in search of mummy. If I was a bit further from the door, I thought...
Well, DD2 came along, and no one ever failed to find mummy even on the far side of the room.
And 10+ years on I am stuck on the WRONG side of the bed.

DH always sleeps nearest the ensuite. I'm sure it's a coincidence.

I worked away for several long stints when we first lived together and DH kept switching to my side because he missed me so we switched a few times early on. Now we’re old and set in our ways though and even with a new baby where it would make sense to switch we haven’t!

Would you consider switching which end you sleep at, depending on the style of bed would mean either just moving pillows to the foot of the bed
or turning the bed 180 so you still have a headboard? Or is that going too far? 🤔😂

Thanks @darkcloudsandsunnyskies I appreciate the intensity 😂 that is how I feel!

@OccasionalNachos thankfully I can sleep both ways on my own body, but we never swap that sides we’re on of the whole bed.

@treehousethunderstorm not very easily workable I’m afraid, and I fear would be even more jarring than just switching 😬

We swapped on alternate nights so that both of us had a chance to sleep once every 48 hours (we had a non-sleeping variety of baby). We kept out bedside bits and bobs on wooden trays which could be easily swapped over. I didn't mind a bit but when DH and I got together we both considered the left hand side of the bed to be "our own" side. He won for the long term but for those months it was nice to share.

When I am at a hotel alone on business I always sleep on that side too.

But I digress. The point I meant to make was that dh should pull his weight at night. You are going to be flat out exhausted from solo childcare from dawn till dusk. Dusk till dawn he gets a chance to take some of the weight so baby being on his side is no bad thing. If you are breast feeding you can do that while 70% still sleeping then he can do the change-wind-resettle routine. If you aren't then he can do the lot (not every time, just half the time). We found that dh is way better at getting back to sleep quickly after a disruption than me, so it made a lot more sense for him to get up as then the net sleep lost was only a few minutes, whereas I would take hours to find a way to sleep again.

@Homemadearmy @partysong yes a trial is probably a good idea. The logical part of my brain knows switching is sensible long term but argh!!!

Might be helpful to add - our stupid built in cupboard situation prevents bedside tables of any kind, so the few bedside bits are just on the floor and easy to move

Thanks @YobaOljazUwaque you’re absolutely right. DH is fab and will absolutely do his fair share, but I do hope to exclusive BF so a lot will fall to me and I’d like to be closest to baby (he’ll be fine walking around!) also for purely logistical reasons there’s much more space for baby stuff that side (that’s not currently mine) but I’d like to be mine. But he’s an easy sleeper and I’m not at the best of times, we’ll definitely be working together to find solutions don’t you worry

Just suggested to DH that we change pre-emptively so it’s not such a big thing when I’m pregnant and he’s got fully upset, bless him! Apparently it’s fine when I’m pregnant but totally unreasonable to suggest any change in advance. I didn’t realise he actually felt as strongly as me about this 😂