Co sleeping/breastfeeding

[diamondsrforever]

I swore I wouldn't co sleep with ds2 he's nearly 3 weeks old and ebf he originally fed and went straight bk in his Moses basket whereas now in the night he tends to get quite a lot of wind and wakes up as soon as I lay him back down, if we co sleep he sleeps amazingly and I barely know he's woke up to feed, lay on my side and feed. I really didn't want to get back in to this as co slept with ds1 and took till he was 3 too stop. I seem to be extremely more worried about the dangers of co sleeping this time round and not sure why! Tell me sleep is most important and snuggling up with my baby is the right thing to do again :-)) especially as my other son needs mummy not to be falling asleep all day and grumpy!

I've started to do this as well. Tbh it's more restful for me than getting up to get her out of the basket and waiting for her to be sufficiently asleep to put back in. Since co sleeping I've been much more rested!

Snap I feel so much better in the mornings but thn feel really guilty like I'm being really naughty

Snap I feel so much better in the mornings but thn feel really guilty like I'm being really naughty

If I were you I would carry on. You are clearly aware of the risks of co-sleeping, so I assume you are avoiding risk as far as possible.

I would have loved to co-sleep with DD, but like you I was scared. Also bf didn't work out and I was therefore worried as that is apparently a higher risk - I also had to get up out of bed to get a bottle anyway so was probably more awake if that makes sense.

However I have really noticed this time (she is DC3) that she was pretty unsettled at night from 3-10 ish weeks and from that point onwards (touch wood!) she generally feeds and is happy to go back in cot to sleep without me even reaching over to comfort her. Therefore you could always co-sleep for a few weeks and try putting him back in cot/moses basket about 12 weeks as it may be easier at that point to stop the habit becoming established if that's what you want to do.

maybe just keep doing both and trying? we started off just co-sleeping but now we are about 50/50 at 10 days. no intention to do it long term but not worrying too much these early days.

Hated the idea of co sleeping while pregnant. Then felt like the most natural thing. DD started going in cot at around 5 months. And I take her in with me if she wakes. Which is most nights.

Remember it is how most of the world sleep with their babies. And if it works for you then great keep going. Babies feel safe next to their mother, you are their whole world

Doesn't everyone who successfully breastfeeds end up co-sleeping? Even if they are too ashamed to admit it?

I decided the risk to the baby from co-sleeping was minimal, but the risk to us all if I remained sleep deprived was high.
Also, I consoled myself that half the world co-sleeps without giving it a second thought. Even America, a first world country, has paediatricians positively recommending, i.e. Dr Sears.

You are simply doing what mothers have done for thousands of years, stop worrying and enjoy getting some sleep.

If you co slept with your elder child you know it feels right, you just have to be firmer making sure DC2 learns to spend some of the night in their own bed when they are older so it isn't such a hard habit to break.

Sleep goes in cycles and I could sense a point about an hour after she'd fed when she'd start snuffling and fidgeting, if I took her to her cot then she'd sleep there.

missing - not sure if you are bring serious or not but for the record I never co slept with dd1 and am still bf-ing her at 17 months. they don't have to go together..

poocatherchampion, fair enough, I was exaggerating a little. Words like "always," "never," "everyone," and "no one" are dangerous. The world isn't cookie-cutter.

My kids are older now, but remembering back to those days, the trend in my neighbourhood was that breast feeding mothers were the ones co-sleeping. When the babies were very little, they generally took longer to feed and needed feeding more often than their bottle fed peers who seemed to sleep for longer stretches earlier. Also, a breastfeeding mum gets more benefit from co-sleeping since she doesn't have to stand up and prepare a bottle; she really can just about sleep through feeding. (Of course I realise that a Dad could jump up and prepare the bottle, but that wasn't too common around here. They all begged off owing to work the next morning.)

Hi, in a similar situation, ds is 3 weeks old. I was completely anti-co sleeping but baby wouldn't sleep in his Moses basket so reluctantly co-slept from the first night home. I hated it at first but am more relaxed now as I am very careful and it's clear it's what he prefers. Persisting with the basket for now, he goes in for the first sleep of the night as long as we make sure he is very asleep when we put him in, but when he wakes about 2am he comes in with me. I'm just hoping as he sleeps for longer he will naturally stay longer in the basket but my main concern is dh as he is evicted to the spare room to make co-sleeping safer and clearly we both want him back in the marital bed!

This is the way we evolved - babies sleep with their mothers and breastfeed in the night!

Doing it now doesn't mean doing it forever - anything you do in the first 6 months doesn't have to become a habit if you don't want it to.

Do you have room for a bedside cot (or regular that you can take a side off)? I am finding its the best of both worlds. Very easy to reach over and slide her for a feed but also fairly easy to put her back without much disruption and easy to pat and comfort her while I'm still comfy in bed. Still early days (11 weeks) but its working well for us at the moment.

Thanks all...must admit I secretly love it :-) in my group of friends/colleagues co sleeping is a massive no no so hearing positives from other people helps a lot thanks !