if you don't co-sleep, will BF still be ok?

[fireflyz]

A lot of BF friends seem to have had really erratic sleep patterns and a lot of them seem to end up co-sleeping.
Just wondering how common this is. I really don't fancy co-sleeping.
Would you still be able to BF and then put baby in a cot by the side of your bed? Is being in the same room enough for BF to work?

I'm ebf. Dd is 5 wk 2 day and we aren't co sleeping. She's still in a Moses basket next to the bed. Tend to go anything between 2 and 4 hrs sleep between feeds

I have NEVER co slept... (except for afternoon naps where i slept and she fed, just on a few early days when i was tired & she hadnt yet learnt to nap)

She has been in her own room since 7 weeks old... and since then she has remained in her bedroom between 6.30pm / 6.30am

She is now 7m and has only ever drunk breast milk

I do have a very comfy feeding chair in her bedroom and i have spent hours and hours sitting in it during those night feeds!

So no, there is no need at all to co-sleep to breast feed

she is now 7m and for the past month ish has slept through (about 12 hours with out having any milk, or waking)

I never co-slept with DD, she was ebf for 6m, then fed until she was 14m, co-sleeping is lovely if you want to do it but not compulsory. She was in a Moses basket, then a cot in our room for 10m, and I had a nursing chair in her room.

Well we didn't with DD she slept in a cot in our room then into her own room at 5months. BUT she was a terrable sleeper and I was constanly tired for the first 2years (probably the reasion why we have a bigger gap then I would of liked between our two)

I was to worried about co-sleeping and didn't want to go again the advice. Sod that with DS we co-slept from day one we are all better rested for it.

I would say you don't have to at all but if you have a baby that doesn't sleep well then do be open to considering it as with everything with baby's you need to follow there lead and trust your instictes and do what works best for you and your family.

DD is 14 weeks, ebf and I tried co-sleeping once for about 2hrs when she wouldn't go down but I couldn't sleep as I have huge boobs and was worried about her accidently suffocating. Never tried again but she's a great sleeper anyway. She sleeps a foot away from me in her crib

DS was EBF until weaning and we never co-slept.

He was in our bedroom in a moses basket/cot and only moved into his own room at 7 months old. I would just wake and go in there to feed him until he started going through at about 8 months (by through I mean from about 8-8:30 until about 5-5:30)

My 4mo is EBFed and we've never ever co-slept. I was very determined not to, partly because I knew I would actually sleep worse if he was in with me.

it's hard isn't it cause it all seems such a blur sometimes when you're tired, you just got to do what you think is right and it will all change again when you think you've cracked it anyway withone thing and another.. teething, illness ect.. There's no right answer but the main thing is you don't have to co sleep. Hindsight is also a great and very annoying thing :) all the fun of the fair!!

Same here TheHon - I was in my own room from birth and had to cry through two closed doors and a hallway if I wanted feeding in the night My mum still managed to breastfeed for 6 months!

We are EBF/on demand and DS (now 10 weeks) spent first 6 weeks in his moses basket in our bedroom then moved to the big cot in his own room. I feed him in a comfy chair in there and go back to bed once I've put him down. He slept much better once he was in his own room (mainly I think because he had outgrown his moses basket... he's a very big boy!... and was thrashing about causing it to creak and rustle/hitting the sides when he did Moro reflex and startling/waking himself). He sleeps (generally) 8pm ish through till 2am, but then can wake and want feeding at 4 or 5am (then again at 7am) which does get tiring as I don't get a full sleep cycle. But it's not too bad.
I am interested in the idea of cosleeping though as I didn't realise it was so widespread. It might be a good idea if DS's sleep got more erratic due to illness/teething etc or if we had a second DC who didn't sleep as well as DS does. I have a couple of questions if anyone can tell me what they think!
Firstly, how do you make sure not to squash them? I am a very heavy sleeper and tend to thrash around a lot (hmm, bit like DS does actually!).
Secondly (especially with the method described above by Annie and Jas) how do you burp them? DS is very windy and needs about 20 mins jiggling on my shoulder, on my knee, on my tummy... (by which point I am WIDE awake!) Also he does a pooey nappy during every feed which I tend to change between boobs IYKWIM. Maybe I am excessive/too fastidious (DH reckons so)?
Very interesting to hear how others have done things!

19 months and going strong with the bf here. We have never co-slept, he was in his own room at 4 months (because he grew out of the bedside crib) and stopped needing night feeds by 6 months.

I hate co-sleeping!
I don't know how anyone manages to do it and get any sleep. My body doesn't relax when I have a DC in the bed, I end up half asleep half awake in a big tense C shape around them, I also am either freezing or boiling.
DH is prone to night terrors/extremely physical dreams so that puts me on edge too.
I have managed to breast feed two of my three DC for over 6 months though, and hope to with DC4 when he/she finally puts in an appearance.

Aye, of course you don't have to co-sleep.

Lots of bfed babies sleep in their cot.

Lots of bfed babies sleep all night long, after the early days.

Bfing and sleep are two seperate issues.

DD 4 months wakes every 2.5 to 3 hours for a feed . I'm trying to wait till 3 hours before I feed her . She sleeps in a Moses basket by the bed . I feed sitting up , reading the BBC website and Mumsnet .

I am very tired though , and some nights when I struggle to stay awake I get to about 5 and lay down to fed . I wait till she finishes and then drift off back to sleep . She doesn't want to go back into her basket after about 0400. But I hate co sleeping and am going to try harder at putting her back down .

I have never co-slept and breastfed with no problems. My DD slept in a moses basket beside our bed, then in her cot beside our bed as she got bigger. I initially preferred to feed sitting up, so in the early days I took my DD through to the living room and watched TV. Feeds were really long and I found I managed better sitting with a cup of tea (and a biscuit) with the TV on. My DD got into a routine where she fed at 7pm, 2.30am and 5am. As my DD got older and feeds got shorter, I just stayed in my bedroom sitting up reading. When my DD was 7 months we moved her into her own bedroom and continued to breastfeed. At that point we bought a comfy chair for me to sit on at bedtime and for during the night feeds.

Many bf'ing mums co sleep as it allows their baby to latch on without them having to waken up properly, so sleep is not so disturbed. Co-sleeping made me nervous, even though I know it shouldn't. My DD is now 2 and continues to breastfeed, so breastfeeding is totally possible without cosleeping if this is something that you dont want to do :)

We didn't co-sleep other than a few nights when ds had been up for hours at Christmas. Complete nightmare as he was away from home at about 7 months and I was exhausted. Didn't get much sleep - kept waking all uncomfortable but better than no sleep at all. I am still bf at 11 months, although ds is only now interested in feeding in the evening and at night, food and walking are far more interesting than bf any other time.

DS slept in a carrycot in our room for 9 weeks, then he had outgrown it so had to go into his cotbed. (He was waking up with his face pressed against the side of the carrycot so I decided his cot was safer.)

I would recommend training your husband/partner to help while they are on paternity leave. My dh went and got ds when he woke up, changed his nappy if needed, then brought him to me to feed in bed. I put him back later. Made the first few weeks much easier. And get a big comfy chair for the nursery. We have an Ikea one that doesn't rock but kind of bounces, and lots of cushions.