To ask why people co sleep?

[Cathycomehome]

It seems quite popular on here, but all advice I see is not to. So, why do people still do it, when they follow other advice to the letter?

[Doingakatereddy]

I'm always a little jealous of Mums who co sleep, DS would never entertain it even as newborn & to this day refuses to sleep in bed with us.

Every now & then, he will have a little nap on one of us on sofa (he's almost 3 yo) & we love it! We just stop whatever we were planning on doing & adore the feeling of him snuggled up.

[Yfronts]

My MW's are very pro co-sleeping. It's fine under the right condition's.

[DizzyZebra]

Because i'm a lazy cow. That's all really. As long as you follow the guidelines for it it's fine.

[Meringue33]

This has been a really interesting thread for me as LO is 13 days old. Just wondering, those of you who said that their LO breast feeds in the night without waking you, do you find they have a "good" self latch? At moment am trying to steer the latch as I find when baby self latches he does not take a large enough mouthful. Would love to leave it to him to latch on but not sure how to improve this?

[5madthings]

meringue at that age you need to help them/make agree they are latched but pretty soon the get the hang of it and do it themselves :)

[Piemother]

Cat98 - brilliant post
One day my dc will grow out of co sleeping forever

[Locketjuice]

Love this thread making me feel better about having a 1 yo taking up the whole bed all the nice posts about cuddles in the night etc make it all seem that bit nicer than he's so small yet takes up so much room... When will he sleep alone ;)

[Meringue33]

Thanks madthings :)

[seeker]

Well, I've just tried to go to bed, to find ds, who's 11, and dp cuddled up asleep in it. Pausing only to take a blackmail photo (they look very cute) I will proceed to ds's room and take advantage of his new mattress!

[SomeKindOfDeliciousBiscuit]

meringue my 14mo is very adept she sometimes non verbally asks first, which is adorable. Sometimes I get a hug first, or a round of applause during. No kidding. Cracks me up and melts my heart at once.

[rainbowsprite1]

I had DD2 15mo after DD1 & cosleeping (DH was in the spareroom, his choice) was wonderful. It gave me a chance to bond with her, she was born at the end of november & we live somewhere with pretty wild weather & I spent the first few months of her life breastfeeding her listening to the rain & gale force winds hammer against the window. It is one of my most treasured memories. I would urge anyone with a small baby at this time of year to cosleep (obvs assuming safety stuff etc)

[rainbowsprite1]

my DD2 is now at school in reception... I stil miss those early days..

[Piemother]

PrayingforBeatrice - sending lots of love x

[corinthian]

I decided the slight increase in risk of SIDS was less than the risk that I'd fall asleep on a sofa with him during the day (which is definitely risky from what I could gather) or have some sleep-deprivation-related accident. To get DS to sleep anywhere else would have required leaving him to cry.

The FSID claim that co-sleeping following the guidelines does increase the risk of SIDS slightly, but certainly at the time, I could never actually find the evidence they based that on on their website. Most of the studies around conflate cosleeping following the guidelines with other forms of bed sharing, sleeping on sofas etc. so it's very hard to find out the true picture.

I'm not sure I really enjoyed cosleeping though. It's lovely when you wake up together in the morning, but not much sleeping happened and I hated not being able to move without waking DS up.

[DaveMccave]

Having baby in a seperate cot, and in a seperate room even, is a strictly western phenomenon and fairly new practise. Some babies sleep fine on their own in a cot, most don't though. The guilt and worry placed on parents because of government guidelines I think is unnecessary. There is actually lots of evidence to suggest that cosleeping lowers cot death risks. Breathing facing your baby may trigger a breathing reflex, and sleeping in arms reach keeps babies cortisol levels stable.

Co sleeping is dangerous when parents are sitting on sofas/chairs/heavy bedding, when they are smoking or have drunk alcohol. These are what have skewed SIDS statistics, when looking at babies that have died that were sleeping on a parent. If the parents weren't exhausted, because hey weren't up all night rocking a newborn that didn't want to sleep on its own because of fears of having the baby in bed with them, the risks of falling asleep in unsuitable places would be lower.

Co sleeping also makes breastfeeding much easier and parents less tired. You learn to latch baby on and feed without fully waking up.

[blondefriend]

My dd was 100% BF, never coslept, weaned at 5 months, weaned off breast at 1 year - blah de blah. I read all the books and stuck to all the "rules".

My ds was very poorly at birth, slipped into a coma within hours and would have died if I hadn't raised the alarm. He would have been recorded as a "cot death" because his condition was undetectable after death. He has taught me that every child needs a different parenting style. He was hospital-bound for 3.5 months and had severe reflux when he came home. He was in constant pain and needed his mummy to cuddle him through the worst parts. I had read all the guidance and had almost lost him many times previously but at times we needed to cosleep as lack of sleep made his condition worse and his anxiety levels were already high from so many months in hospital. Cosleeping is a wonderful, loving experience but, like his sister, he soon got to the stage of using mummy like a trampoline and was ushered into his own cot.

I'm so sorry for anyone who has lost a child, however it happened. It must be heartbreaking when you see people doing something and having healthy babies despite that. My friend lost her 3 year old in a car crash despite being in a proper car seat etc. She has to watch people drive by with children on booster seats and wonder why not them. Unfortunately life deals some shitty hands. I hope that you can come to terms with your loss. I would probably not cosleep at all in your situation, I couldn't do it. You can buy cots that attach to your bed so that they can sleep in that with your arm over them as a compromise. Thinking of you tonight. x

[meadow2]

Around the world co sleeping is the normal way

[Bearcrumble]

Sorry to hijack thread but there seem to be a lot of people here with experience of cosleeping. My DD is now 9 months and while I am happy to continue cosleeping she really still only wants to lie on top of me rather than beside. What can I do? As she's getting heavier my back is suffering. Also she seems to want to be latched on all night. Actually the last 2 nights have been a lot better for both but until Monday I felt like I was going mad. We bought a cotbed from ebay and are picking it up tonight so at least will have the option to attempt cot sleeping if it gets bad again.

[Morloth]

I think at 9 months, I would just keep putting her to my side.

She won't like it very much and may well yell, but you will not be ignoring her needs, just her wants.

I always figured if I was doing everything I could for them and they were still yelling, then they would just have to get over it.