to be happy cosleeping?

[KoalaTale]

Dd is 13mo and sleeps in our bed every night. She goes to sleep in her cot in her room for a couple of hours from 7pm, giving me a chance to have dinner/bath/tidy up and chat to dh. Then she wakes about 930 and wants to sleep cuddling in our bed.

For a while we tried lots of techniques to keep her in the cot longer, all resulted in her crying hysterically and sometimes making herself sick (we tried laying next to cot,rocking,singing,total darkness and even a few minutes of CIO which I won't ever do again :( .

Anyway, dh and I have come to the conclusion that dd is better off in our bed, she sleeps well, has a bf a couple of times which I virtually sleep through and we all get a good night sleep.

When I get asked about sleep by hv/mil/fil/dm/dbro and any other person who is nosey interested they all sigh, tell me about rod for my back or tell me they wouldn't put up with it. Tbh I'm quite fed up of all the negative comments and I do enjoy cosleeping - last night dd smiled and cuddled and looked at me with such happiness and love it brought a tear to my eye.

Aibu to actually enjoy cosleeping and be fed up of people making me feel like I'm a bad parent for doing it? I don't care how other people sleep and don't see why I should lie to please the critics...

Cola pillow down the middle in between you so he will cuddle into that and stay on his side? Bedspread on top so when he hogs the duvet you pull the throw back onto you.
Or bribe him to stay in his bed!

Smile and ignore. My MIL is so critical of my co-sleeping with 6mo dd that I have a "pretend" cot in my room! That is, a real cot made up with blankets and rumpled to suggest that a small person has slept in it. She's never spent a minute in it. I wish that everyone who has anything to say about other people's parenting choices would f**k off.

YANBU! We cosleep with our 14mo dd and it is a JOY. I can bf so easily, but the best thing is waking when she does in the morning, seeing her kneel up and rub her little eyes and smile at us, then coo "Daddeeee!" at him so happily! Sometimes she wakes up in the night for a feed and climbs on me to give me a big hug and a smile before she starts. Sometimes very occasionally I'll wake up in the middle of the night to hear her singing to herself gently. She lies on my arm, wide awake but still, singing under her breath, big eyes blinking in the dark, then turns round and gives me the most beautiful smile, goes to feed and falls asleep again.
If I'm really honest I think if you've never known this you've never known happiness

To the pp who asked about making it safe, we have the bed against the wall, feeding pillow (ie long and thin ones) down the gap. At 6m I kept her between me and the wall as her dad isn't as programmed to wake up as me although he nearly is. Try to avoid alcohol, smoking or overeating as these can make you sleep too heavily and increase the risk of you rolling on the baby. Ditch pillows and be prepared to have alternative cover arrangements as duvets are too much for little ones. Our DD prefers to lie on top, so I put a fleecy baby blanket over her (the house is quite warm, as are her pjs).

Keep up the good work!

Ignore, ignore, ignore! My DS coslept with us until he was about 2 1/2, before happily choosing to move into his big-boy bed, and is now an absolutely brilliant sleeper, loves his own room, has no fear of the dark and sleeps through every night. I loved cosleeping and really missed him when he went into his own room!

If I'm really honest I think if you've never known this you've never known happiness
just what i used to think when snuggling in with my little one...
some babies don't want their own bed for years - woohoo!

YANBU. I love cosleeping with my 1 and 3yo. We didn't set out to co-sleep and everybody starts off in their own bed but my eldest arrives in our room without fail every night at around 12.30 and the youngest wakes about 1/2am and I bring him in. Having us all in the same bed seems so natural and snuggly. OH is far less thrilled about it though and told me last night he wants our bed back to ourselves.