To ask why you co-sleep?

[mummsyy]

I am genuinely interested, I have DD3 who has only ever slept in my bed once and that was last month when she was sick in her bed during the night so brought her in with me.

Currently pregnant with DD2 and I see a lot of people talking on FB etc of how they co-sleep and how amazing it is.

So if you do co-sleep, why? I was always under the impression it was dangerous but it's so common surely it can't be that bad?

So I could actually get some sleep. So I could feed throughout the night without getting up. Because snuggles are lovely. Because if I'm there I know if my baby is breathing or not.

Because I can sleep and feed at the same time! Ultimate lazy parenting move.
I only started when my baby was 6 months, but next baby I'll do it much earlier.
It's only dangerous if you don't follow the correct co sleeping guidance. If you do it's no more unsafe than Moses basket in your room.

Not at all dangerous if you follow the guidelines! I wad too lazy to get out of bed multiple times a night to feed and found it hard to get back to sleep if I did. Because he slept much better cuddling me and I felt much better cuddling him than having him in a cot. He's 4 and still climbs in to my bed at some point in the night.

Because it gets us the most sleep. It is also lovely to wakr up ti a sleepy little head next to you,
I didn't cosleep with ds, he wad the easiest baby and has always loved his space. Then ds2 came along and it wzs the only way we got decent nights sleep so we coslept until he was 3.5, he is 5 now and still sneaks in regularly and ds3 sometimes comes in if he is unsettled.

I was also under the impression it was dangerous, and for that reason I didn't co-sleep with my eldest until he was around 7 months old, and then not regularly or all night, but I really regret that now - he'd have benefited from it so much as a newborn and so would I. With my next two, I got a sidecar crib so I knew they wouldn't fall out, and they both slept with me the first several weeks. It felt like the most natural thing in the world and we all got much more, better quality sleep. These days the nhs don't tell you not to co-sleep; they tell you how to do it safely.

I had a horrific labour so didn't have the physical or mental strength to do anything else with my lo

Because it's what our daughter needs. She needs to know I'm there for her. If she doesn't she wakes her older brother and he needs his sleep for school the next day.

I did it as an alternative to going crazy.

DS woke every 45 minutes until about a year old. Getting out of bed and walking to another room was waking me up so much that I often wouldn't get back to sleep before he woke again. Co-sleeping wasn't as disruptive, so I could mostly go back to sleep inbetween each wake up.

Still co-sleep now he's 3. He currently wakes up every 2-3 hours.

The cuddles are nice too.

It's not dangerous when it is practiced safely. No drink or drugs, only sleeping next to the mother and breastfeeding. We are designed to be in tune with our children and people have been cosleeping for hundreds of years. I do it for the following reasons:

1. To be close to my children when they are young and vulnerable. I know instantly whether they are breathing, unwell etc
2. I believe it makes my baby feel more secure, loved and safe.
3. I breastfeed lying down to get more sleep and it feels natural to keep her there.
4. I coslept with my first DS as he screamed blue murder (and I mean horrendously for hours for a variety of health reasons) and the only thing that soothed him was sleeping next to me.
5. I find it destresses me and I cherish these years that will be gone only too soon.

Hope thy answers your question

So I don't have to get out of bed to feed. I like my sleep!

Because we love it and there is no way I would get out of bed to feed. Just pop the boob out and off we go to sleep again.

Ds2 is currently four weeks old and he literally won't go down in the moses basket AT ALL. The alternative would be to hold him all night but I also have a 13 month old to look after so I think I'd die of sleep deprivation!

Currently with co sleeping he feeds at about 11pm, 3am and 5am. I'm pretty happy with that. Plus I can latch him on and go back to sleep! Last night I latched him on at about 2am. Woke up at 4am and he was still latched and fast asleep! I'll start to encourage some sleep independence when he hits four months ISH

Because it gets me the most sleep. Never done the being up for night feeds thing with either baby! Baby moves, I latch them on while half asleep and doze off. No getting out of bed, spending ages feeding/resettling/sitting on my phone in the middle of the night.
Like another poster with the second I had a sibling to worry about and I didn't want any crying in the night waking him.

It felt right

Because I fell asleep with my first baby in my arms trying to sit up in a nursing chair doing a night feed. It scared me. I researched safe co sleeping rules and started to get much better sleep with her in our bed.

We attached our cot minus one side to our bed with bungy ropes, packed the gap with high density foam and it stayed there for the next 8 years !

With DC2, 3 & 4 they want straight into our bed from day one. So much easier for everyone.

If you follow the safety rules, co sleeping is very safe. (Firm bed, proper bedding. Mother next to baby not father. Mother sober. Etc)

I loved co sleeping. Now the kids all start their own beds but migrate if they have a bad dream, feel ill or just want a hug. :)

I had a Velcro baby who would only sleep in my arms. One night I remember feeding him in a chair and the sensation of falling asleep and him sliding off my shoulder... after that I looked into safe cosleeping and found ways to make our bed as safe as possible for us (eg out the bed up to the wall with no gaps, I slept in a sleeping bag so no quilt to go over his head.)

Cross post Babieseverywhere!

sarahockwell-smith.com/2012/11/04/the-fourth-trimester-aka-why-your-newborn-baby-is-only-happy-in-your-arms/amp/

Another for getting a reasonable night's sleep. My eldest moved to a cot at about 8 months, and is now in a bed. He stays there.

Feeding while you sleep. The ultimate in multitasking.

With DD1 i was militant, and followed (not to the letter) Gina Ford. It worked for me, and I knew no different, plus DD1 was a very easy baby.

Fast forward 7 years. DD2 was ebf and on demand. DH slept in another room, so it naturally evolved to co-sleeping, and was brilliant. None of the sleep deprivation I remembered from sitting up and feeding in a bleeding rocking chair half the night.

Despite all the concerns it continued, DD2 still alive and still partial to sleeping with me. Fortunately DH buggered off to pursue single life, so her sleeping with me long term never became an issue. I adore waking up next to her hugs and kisses.

She flits between my bed and hers, and DD1's, and i couldn't give a flying fuck what anyone says... It works for us, and we sleep very soundly.

I feel pangs of guilt about being a first time mum and following such a strict routine, meaning DD1 never got to experience what DD2 did. I didn't know any better, and had no family nearby. DD1 doesn't seem to have suffered, but I wish I had been more instinctive back then.

Can’t be bothered to get out of bed mostly, he finds my nipple in the night so I wake up slightly to that and then we both go back to sleep. He goes down perfectly in his cot, will sleep in there all night, but if he wakes early say half 5ish I’ll bring him in bed with me and he’ll sleep an extra hour or two. We do a bit of both I’m fairly lax about it

It's pretty much the norm in many cultures/countries and was the norm everywhere in the past so of course it's not dangerous! Just as long as it is done safely/properly.
I co-slept from birth with number 2 and 3 and loved/loving it (number 3 currently, 11months). Much easier to feed and especially now I'm back at work I love the cuddles in the evening, gives me the opportunity to reconnect. I have 3 kids, I work FT but I don't think I miss out too much and I think what helps me is breastfeeding and co-sleeping!

Because it was nice and I didn't have to get out of bed to feed him. Bliss. Both of my boys slept with us till they were 2yrs and then went in their own rooms.