Exclusive breastfeeders past & present...a little poll for you.

[vlc]

A dear friend of mine is expecting her first baby soon. She is very committed to exclusive breastfeeding. She (as I did) bought a cot, moses basket, carrycot etc in the very reasonable expectation that the baby will sleep peacefully in one of them.

My own experience is that after only a few days of concerted effort trying and failing to persuade dd to sleep in her amby hammock, I gave in and co-slept out of desperation, and never looked back. I personally would not have succeeded in excl bf for 6 months if I has persevered in seperate sleeping arrangements. For me, the one enabled the other.

I was just wondering, though, what the MN experience has been. If you successfully bf exclusively, did you co-sleep occasionally, regularly, or never?

Just curious, really!

[TinkerBellesMum]

It's personal to the baby, nicewarmslippers and probably very little to do with where they sleep. I'm sure if you did a poll on MN you will find it's about equal for who did or didn't and had a baby that did or didn't sleep through the night.

I never had a disrupted night because I didn't have to wake up to feed her and the longer she went without needing a feed the more she slept in her own bed until we were taking her in probably around 4 or 5 then she'd go back off until I got up. As soon as she discovered solids she wasn't as interested in me anymore so probably by 7 months she was sleeping through the night in her own bed unless she was ill or couldn't settle. Not that she ever weaned from the breast, she's 2y 5m and I'm 31 weeks pregnant and she's still nursing.

[nicewarmslippers]

I exclusiveky breastfed 6 months and carried on for 14 months, now have a 8 week old, never fed either of them in bed. I am tempted with little one but dd is such a great sleeper (never woke in the night since 3 months) that I am inclined to do the same with him as I did with her. Many co sleepers I know baby still wakes to feed in the night at 9 months or a year-I'd rather short term cost for long term gain but its all trade offs and how desperately you need sleep in the short term

[naughtymummy]

Both mine exclusive BF (till 6m and 9m) both slept in their own room from about 10 days. Both slept through the night at 3 m.

[TinkerBellesMum]

I forgot to say, we always put her in her own bed when she fell asleep at night and moved her in with us when she woke first - normally when we went to bed anyway. As she went longer through the night without needing feeds she naturally moved into her own bed so there was no rough transition for her. We also allow her to come in with us whenever she asks, although we do try to keep her to her own bed when she goes down (sometimes she gets on our bed with a "well, that's me sorted" face!)

[Klaw]

BF both my children until weaned fully. But could not sleep with them in the same room as me.

like the idea of co sleeping but it just means that i then can't sleep for all the little noises they make and ds wanted feeding every hour cos he could smell me.... so at 6 wks went in his room, but in snall flat so was practically in same room iyswim?

Dd then went straight to the other room but whilst still small would sleep in our room to give ds peace.

I'm a bf peer support volunteer and I know about babies being best in same room as parents but it doesn't work for me and am fortunate that we found what worked for us.

if i had another I would want to invest in one of those alongside cots so that I could sleep with dc safe but near me for bf, and see if that worked at all. I just couldn't sleep with dc in my bed

[rlp]

Coslept for a full year with DH in other room and cot / Moses basket set up out of fear of HV catching me! I eventually had to move her out and attempt to night wean at 13 months. I didn't find sleeping through a feed easy and she was too active at night.
I also wanted DH back in bed and there didn't seem to be space for 3!
Now 30months old and still feeding despite my going back to work 2 says a week when she was 6 months old. Never took a bottle at all.
We bought an Amby hammock bed with intention of using it to help me cope having two under 2yr at once. Unfortunately, the second (and third)pregnancy ended with a miscarriage, so I can't give a true opinion of it. My breastfed baby still suffered reflux so I thought it might be better than laying them flat.

[TinkerBellesMum]

I haven't read the thread (10 pages!) we did cosleep, although I said prebaby I wouldn't. At my NCT class recently I was the only one who said they would (and only one with older children) the teacher said "there speaks a parent".

We weren't able to breastfeed exclusively because she was premature, mostly she was on BM and she was over 6 months before we started solids.

Another gem from my NCT class, the above question was from a poll of where we would feel happy about putting our baby. Everyone else said in their own cot or their own room. To those that said own room she pointed out that babies are twice as likely to suffer SIDS in their own room than their parents beds. She didn't say though that 90% of SIDS happens in a child's own bed, which makes me feel that cosleeping is by far the safest place of the three.

[Balthamos]

Only read about half of thread.
We didn't co-sleep until my DD was about 9 months. She slept brilliantly until she was 5 or 6 months old (through the night) so there was no need. HOWEVER, after lulling us into a false sense of security in those early months, she stopped sleeping through around 6 months and lo and behold, we started co-sleeping!!!

At 16 months we are still bf-ing and sort of co-sleeping. She now only comes into bed at about 5.30am. Although i feed her to sleep every night on our bed and feed her in bed whenever she wakes up. Is just easier. Then I pop her back in the cot and stumble back to bed. By 5.30 though i can stumble no more and just give in!!.

Waking up to a smiling, chatting, cuddly 16 month old is a wonderful thing .

[happynappies]

I didn't co-sleep with my dd, but did feed her lying down in bed. She slept in her moses basket next to me in the early months, but i did have lots of problems trying to settle her!

[Highlander]

I didn't co-sleep with either of mine until they could roll over , but even then they would be put down in their own cot until I went to bed.

So I guess I co-slept regularly?

[Lizum]

My DS is 2 1/2 weeks old and apart from one night at the beginning when we topped up with formula he's exclusively breastfed. He was feeding every 3 hours until last week when it went all wobbly and now he seems to feed continuously from early evening until 3 or 4 am. I was/still am worried about co-sleeping- my husband smokes (although never in the house and he's cut down to a few a day instead of 10 or so) but the last 3 nights I've brought DS into bed for the first part of the night to feed and sleep as I've been too knackered to get out of bed to feed him. I've made sure he's only covered by his blanket and not our duvet. Not too worried about him falling out as his basket is jammed up against the bed and we sleep on a futon only a couple of inches off the floor.

[wintersapproaching]

Both of mine exclusive breastfeeders, neither co-slept. I found mine had better night feeds if I got them up and fed then winded then resettled in their moses basket/cot etc than when they fed lying down in my bed (they mostly vomited it back up or seemed to be unsettled for a period in the night which I am sure was wind)

[gillythekid]

Yes it is possible! DH is 19 weeks and sleeps in his cot next to us and has done so since day one, it works for us as we all sleep better in our own space but I guess everyone does what suits them.

[mybabywakesupsinging]

ds1 didn't really sleep anywhere, but when he did deign to do so at night it was in his cot. Spent a lot of hours co-waking, though...
He ebf to 6 months, self-weaned about 11 months.
ds2 prefers to sleep lying down, gets quite grumpy if held to sleep, loves his cot (grumbles about travel cots). He ebf to 6 months, is still feeding at 19 months. No way would I co-sleep with him, he rotates 360 degrees several times a night .

[Milkycheeks]

Not read all this but just to add that dd was exclusive bf for 6 mo, & is still bfing at 15 mo. She was in moses basket then cot by bed for first 6 months then own room. has only co-slept once when we all had stomach bug a few months ago - i'm a really light sleeper & wouldn't sleep well if she was in with us. She does now come in with us for her early morning feed & i try to doze but she's a little wriggler & doesn't feed for that long now anyway.

[SachaF]

Have only read first page of threads but in answer to OP:
DC1, bf exclusively 'til 24 weeks (ie no food), all milk feeds bf until 10 months and then stopped bfing at 13 months (pregnant and throwing up....). He slept in his own cot next to us for 10 weeks, then into his own room at 10 weeks as he was waking me up too much - still did 2 feeds/night in the rocking chair in his room.
DC2 is bf exclusively (10 weeks), sleeps in a bedside cot (so almost co-sleeping as I can just reach an arm over to her) and often comes into bed at 5am.
DC1 was a winter baby - the thick duvet put me off of co-sleeping. I am still using only a 4-tog duvet with me for DC2.
So exclusive bfing with two babies with different sleeping strategies - whatever works for you at the time!

[Alishanty]

I excl bf my ds for 6 mths, introduced solids and finally gave up bf at one year. I am currently bf 3 1/2 mth old. Have never co-slept. My dp is a large man and we never felt comfortable with the idea, would not have been enough room in the bed imo. I have always had the moses basket/cot jammed right up against my side of the bed tho so no getting out of bed in the night. My ds always settled straight back into his bed after a feed, my dd was harder but eventually got her used to it with persistance! The times rare times I brought them into the bed, say if dp wasn't there in the morning I have never been relaxed enough to sleep. I wouldn't personally put them in their own room until they reliably started going through the night or stopped bf, purely cos I am lazy. Ds was 18 mths when he went into his own room.

[WTSS]

exclusively bf dd1 till 19 months and currently exclusively bf ds1.
never co slept. don't see at all why anyone would think it was necessary.

[WTSS]

exclusively bf dd1 till 19 months and currently exclusively bf ds1.
never co slept. don't see at all why anyone would think it was necessary.

[aberdeenhiker]

I've exclusively bf both my boys (ds2 is six months next week) and we don't co-sleep. Every baby is different and so are parents - my DH and I don't sleep well with the kids in the bed so we've been strict about putting them back in their cots but other friends have found the exact opposite (slept better with their babies in with them).

[kalo12]

still bf at 9 months ds never took a bottle, never expressed, never co sleep, ds sleeps in his cot in another room, he wakes up loads in the night but this is mainly cos he is allergic to lots so solids upset him, will probably bf til at least 18 months, not really by choice but ok with it, have resigned myself to not sleeping for two years, and i look surprisingly good for an average of an hour sleep a night for the last 10 months.

i lost loads of weight tho so my advice is eat loads and loads and don't worry about getting fat cos once you lose it all its so hard to eat enough to maintain supply

[AnnVan]

I'm exclusive bf my 10 week old, and we don't co-sleep. he's in a moses basket next to the bed at night. I sit in bed and feed him then put him back in his basket. No way I'd be able to sleep with him in the bed.

[mummy2rachel]

I exclusively breastfed and did not co-sleep. I find that I cannot sleep properly with baby on the same bed. She sleeps on her cot beside our bed and it is no problem getting up to feed her at night.

[glitterbird]

Not read the entire thread but I have exclusively breast fed DS is now 5.5 months old and never co slept, he slept in his moses basket and when to big for this he happily moved to his cot.

every baby is different but was never a problem for me