Is co-sleeping standard practise with EBF newborns, and will my supply suffer if feeding from one side?

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DS is 5 days old today. Nights are exhausting for me because he's up every 2 hours to feed at the breast, which is fine, but I just want reassurance that it is ok to just keep him in bed with me all night and not bother putting him in his moses basket. He won't settle in it at all to be honest and I am finding it difficult to fall asleep because I am too paranoid that I am going to roll over and squash him/he is going to fall out of bed (this is possibly completely irrational as he is sleeping between DP and I).

Also, at this stage, is it going to be detrimental to my milk supply to feed from just my right boob during the night? Mainly because that is the side closest to him in the position we sleep in - it isn't the end of the world to readjust the pillows and turn over but it's just so much easier not to. Also my left nipple is a bit sore from a bit of a crappy latch in the first few days (think we have combated this now) so it would be a nice respite.

Any advice gratefully received!

Ds1 slept in his cot next to me - it worked but I was shattered. Ds2 sleeps in bed I am much, much more rested. I have the bed jammed up to the crib (about 1cm gap) - the crib is against the wall and there is no chance of anything moving. After this, we will shove the bed against the wall.

If lying on my right, I feed from the right boob, but have perfected the art of leaning over so he can also feed from my left without actually moving .

I think boobs work independantly (sp?) so you could have a nighttime boob?

You can probably feed from both sides while only lying on one side - you just have to lean over more. Not very comfy though. I would think there's a risk of affecting supply - but you could try doing more feeds from the less painful side (i did that when sore at the beginning and my supply was fine).

Re: co-sleeping, I did it with both my DC and all was fine. However, I was very very very careful about it, so would recommend reading all the safety guidelines and following them. My DCs always slept with their head on the crook of my arm, so I knew their heads weren't disappearing under covers/into pillows. And my arm was there to ward off DH - partners are usually not as sensitive to the baby when asleep as the mother is (hormones?)

I'm sure you're (both) not drinking alcohol and not smokers too, but both those are important (also not taking any prescription drugs that cause sleepiness). Good luck! x

I should have mentioned actually (not sure if it's relevant but might as well) that it is anything up to every 2 hours he is waking, sometimes he'll have a mini feed of about 10 minutes every half hour to an hour, towards the wee hours (3-9am) he'll do 2 hours before waking for a decent length feed.

I will try leaning over, moonstorm, I'm still getting the hang of things so it is good to know it's ok to do this! It's just a bit scary with the still sore nipple!

Good to know your supply was fine, wolfhound, it's not so bad during the day but at night when I am feeling tired and vulnerable I am almost in tears with the pain. It's ok after the initial wincing really, I just dread the left boob feed! Just reading up on safe practise now re the sleeping. I am doing what you did in terms of how he is positioned to sleep. I don't allow the duvet to be fully pulled up (sorry DP!) and I sleep with my arm around him and haven't actually moved so far. Neither of us are smokers or drinking either and we are both sensitive to his waking (although I feel I am slightly less sensitive than DP? Possibly because I am so shattered?). Thanks for the advice.

I had nipple pain both times - see someone if it doesn't get better, but it's worth getting through it. Feeding often is normal - andeasier to stay lying down. These weeeks do go and you'll get sleep again

I slept with my ds for the first few months and just fed off the right side as that was the side he was on. Be prepared to getting lopsided boobs though! They have evened up now I'm feeding equally from both.

I always had ds on my edge of the bed rather than between us as I felt I was much more sensitive to where he was and the midwife had warned me that fathers don't have the same sense of this as mothers. I had a bedside cot so ds couldn't roll out.

There's a lot of safety advice in the book 'the no-cry sleep solution'. Actually, I've just found the checklist online here.

I'm just starting practising feeding from the upper boob during the day as DD now sleeps in her carrycot most nights.

Thank you for the reassurance, :)

Might put him on my side (ouchy boob side) tonight and block the edge with pillows. Wish I could be right up by the wall but unfortunately even though the bed technically IS by the wall there is huge skirting that means there is a gap plus the radiator is right by the bed (this is DP's side of the bed). His cot is on my side (the non-wall/crappy skirting side) so I will push pillows down the side of the stupid Ikea bed!

We got a bed guard from amazon. Makes me feel alot safer.

I kicked DH out of bed and put DD in the middle. Then swap sides every so often during the night. Co sleeping is an art form - you will soon be able to feed him without actually being conscious of waking up. I actually don't know how people manage to ebf without co sleeping.

co sleeping is definately the answer! unicef produced this that gives information on co sleeping I hope that it helps. It is so much easier to co sleep. Glad your breastfeeding is going well :) I did not get to realise I could feed my daughter lying down till she was three months I could of kissed the person who told me I could co sleep!

We have foam bumpers which kept him in. I did the evening cluster feed off the non bedtime boob to balance.

We made a co-sleeper cot from a normal ikea cot - best of every world as I could shove gently place him back into the cot/ roll into the cot and back afterwards, and didn't have to worry about him falling out. I was gutted when he started sitting up and he has to share the proper bed (he is a starfish sleeper and ends up shoving me out

We then turned back into a normal cot on the lower setting which he occasionly deigns to sleep in.

I wouldn't only feed off one boob to be honest, as I did it for exactly the same reasons and am now completely lopsided. Apparently once I stop feeding it will go back but for now I look a bit odd!

I am co-sleeping with my 9-week old son. Didn't plan to but it was that or no-sleeping as he often refuses to sleep in his cot or moses basket and we didn't have room to put cot by side of bed. He sleeps in the middle of the bed next to me or in crook of my arm with his own blanket and I have duvet halfway down. My husband sleeps in another room to get some sleep. However I have yet to fully master art of BF lying down and in any case I always need the loo when I wake up and usually have to change a nappy.
The no-cry sleep solution checklist scared me a bit! Am i in danger of suffocating my baby with my long hair or hurting him with wedding ring?