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

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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!

I breast fed and co-slept/sleep with our four girls, worked well for me. We used an Amby hammock for dd3 and dd4 until they were about 7 months, moses basket for dd2 and dd1 slept in our bed most nights until she moved into a 'big bed' at about 18 months. The most important thing is getting sleep and that is how we do it!

still exclusively bf DS at 4.5 months, we part time co-sleep, i.e. he starts off in the cot (and earlier in carrycot) then comes into bed when he first wakes up in the night. He's never slept through so is always in bed with us in the morning!

i co-slept occassionally and i breastfed all three of mine for 4-8 months each. however i did find everyone got a much bette nights sleep when we didn;t co-sleep and it was ontl realy out of utter exhasution and failure that i ended up co-sleeping. i was just so knackered i feel asleep with them on my boob and that was that!

yup, for us co-sleeping was prety much a feature...however, ds 2 always , natuallyy, seemed to refer his own space..he was also naturally a very routinely driven child...

Bf exclusively for 6 months and continue to bf at 23 months. Co slept on and off from about 2 weeks as no heating and the house was freezing, but I did find that she then didn't want to sleep in her cot.
It was though, so much easier to bf whilst co sleeping.

DD was in moses basket in our room until she waggled it too much, then in cot in our room. Regularly put to sleep with feeding, but in own bed, though she would always end up in ours by the morning (chilly bedroom, more cosy in our bed so she slept better with us. By 5 months she was in her own room on a mattress, then we got round to arranging it more like a nursery, and she went into her cot. Still breast fed to sleep until 1, then feeding bedtime and morning but she got better at settling herself. Stopped feeding at 15 months.

DS was in moses basket next to bed, now cot. still in our room as still waking for milk, don't want to disrupt DD's sleep. He ends up in our bed most nights, though he can go through in his own if wrapped up well enough. depends on the weather, teething etc.

DD1 BF exclusively for 6 months, and BF for 18 months in total. As a newborn, she slept in a moses basket next to my bed, but she slept from 12 - 6 by 6 weeks, so never had to do any night feeding after that (would go to bed at midnight, and wake again at 6, then nap during the day). I did try co-sleeping for a bit when she started waking when she was about 7 months old. It lasted until I rolled on top of her, and I moved her out of my bed that very night, she stopped night waking the night after!

DD2 was never allowed in my bed (after rolling onto DD1), but again slept in a Moses basket / cot next to me for a year. She slept thru from 8 weeks, and so never needed to come into bed with me. Plus, when she did try night waking at a similar age to DD1, I was able to nip it in the bud much easier, so never needed to.

Haven't read all the replies but my youngest is 15 months and still B/F, she was exclusively BF until 6 months and we did not co-sleep! She came in to our bed for her 3 am feed and would often stay, but before that she went back into her Moses basket. No real reason, I am not against cosleeping, in fact in those early weeks it was great 'cos it meant I slept!!

My eldest was also bf and I was millitant about putting her back into her Moses basket (first time mum taking far too much notice of other people telling me she'd never sleep in a bed if I didn't!) She suffered terrible wind and I now wonder if she'd have been a lot better in with us.

It is all about what you are comfortable with, cosleeping is great until they get a bit bigger. I didn't want my 6 month old feeding as and when she wanted, by that age I wanted to know what she was having!

never. dd1 was simply too wriggly

We were occasional co-sleepers, not something I planned to do.

DS was EBF until 6 months, then carried on with BF until nearly 2 yrs. TBH he slept fairly well in moses basket rammed up against the bed for first 3 months - then he 'woke up' to the world and sleeping went a bit all over the shop.

After 3 months he was in a cot in our room, then in his own room at about 5ish months. The time between then and 1 yr was pretty rubbish as he was still feeding several times in the night, and I spent far too much time (in retrospect) crouching on the floor in his room in the freezing cold trying to feed him back to sleep and get him to settle back in the cot. At around a year DH & I finally relaxed and decided that ad hoc co-sleeping was the only way we were going to get some decent sleep, so used to co-sleep after the first waking of the night. DS gave up night feeds at around 15 months (except when poorly) and suddenly started sleeping thro around his 2nd birthday.

I'm due with DC2 in a couple of weeks and will definitely be much more open to co-sleeping from birth if needs be - first time round I really took in all the 'rod for your own back' and 'spoiling' messages...

I BF exclusively till just before 6 months and am still feeding at a year and a half. Wee One has never slept through the night and still wakes at least twice, sometimes around 4 times! I lasted till a year and one month (when separation anxiety increased night wakes from around 4 or 5 times to up to ten times a night), at which point he came in with us - usually on his mattress on the floor next to ours with limbs straddling the two mattresses.

For those first 6 months though I found that he slept fine in the basket and later on a cot with the side down up against our bed - as I was so exhausted (with him waking for feeds every hour and a quarter throughout) that I didn't feel safe about cosleeping at the time. So it's definitely possible (depending on what type of baby she gets of course - it just happened to suit mine)! I did find it hard though keeping awake through the feeds - I found a reading light and also a DS invaluable!

B/f DD till 11 months but never co-slept until she was well over a year old. I was too nervous about her being too hot or getting squashed (especially as DP is a very heavy sleeper).

I didn't even discover the wonderfulness of feeding while lying down until about 8 months in, when I got an inflamed milk duct and was trying all sorts of odd angles to try and persuade it to clear! After that, it became quite a nice routine for the early morning feed, but I still never dared do it when I thought I might drop off.

As others have said, it's all about what works for you.

I coslept the first night with both my kids and then after that they went to a cot in their own room. They both slept through the night at 6 weeks.

I exclusively breastfed for 6 mths till they ate solids, and they didn't touch any milk but mine until they were 13 months, Both very happy too

Ds (still bf) slept between DH and I for the first couple of nights, but I was abit nervous as he was very tiny (only 6lb6oz when born) and DH is a heavy sleeper.
We still co-sleep occasionally, mostly he sleeps in his cot in his room but there ar times (especially when DH is away overnight) ds will sleep with me (we now have a bed guard).
He slept in his moses basket until he was 4 months, then in a cot in our room until he was nearly 7 months.
We've never had a problem with switching between co-sleeping & him sleeping in his own cot.
I think your friend will have to figure out what is best for her and the baby. Can't see a problem with co-sleeping myself, and I would consider it again for (theoretical!) dc2.
After all, how many teenager do you know still sleep with their parents

Dd: Ex bf for 14 months. Always slept in a cot in our room until she went in to her own room. Always welcome in our bed (still is) but just seemed to settle best in her own cot. I would feed her sitting up in bed or in a chair and then move her into her cot once she was asleep.

Ds: Ex bf for 7 months (so far). We co-sleep. He only settles when being fed lying on the bed. Have dismantled the cot. Unsure how it's going to work when he starts rolling as he naps in my bed too.

Yes it is - she never had any formula at all and was BF til 15 months. The ruddy co-sleeping only started once she weaned herself and then refused to sleep alone. grr.

I'm still exclusively bfeeding ds (7.5 months). He was in a crib next to me until about 5 months, when he started waking up when dh got up for work (at 5.30!), so we moved him into a cot in his own room. DS and I never really got the hang of feeding lying down, so I found it worked better to feed him sitting up - plus he seemed to take more that way and wake less often (from about 8 weeks he went from 7 - 7 with a feed at 11 and one at about 4, so it might have been different if he'd woken more often).

I really liked the idea of co-sleeping but was scared by reading about not doing it if 'excessively tired' - which pretty much characterised the first few weeks for me, after a very very long labour. He slept with us a few times when he wouldn't settle, and it always felt lovely - but I hardly slept, and I was always afraid that dh (a very heavy sleeper) would roll on him.

So, a rather rambling response to say that I found b'feeding and sleeping separately perfectly possible (I still do 2 night feeds with ds in a different room)

I bf exclusively both dds until weaning at 6mos and 4.5 mos - they never had formula and I moved them to cowsmilk at 13 months.

And I didn't co sleep, they both slept in a basket beside my bed until about 4months and then in their own rooms. i always fed them in bed at night though, think people who get up and sit in a chair are mad!

So, yes, it's perfectly possible.

DS4 is the only one exclusive bf (now weaning)

even on his first night (born at home so from hour 1) he wouldn't settle in a bed / cot ewtc- only in my arms. So we have co-slept since then and indeed, even now- nope always in my arms! Bit of a strain now really, yhough him crawling gives me respite.

The non-bf (well varying lengths of) all co-slept too. Oh indeed, when give the opportunity they still do- ds1 is 9 next week!

Never co - slept as the idea just terrified me (still does) and breastfed successfully for a year with my son sleeping in the next room and me going in to feed him. Think I was really lucky as he did and still does feed and sleep really well. Maybe your friend will be equally lucky. Don't disillusion her - plenty of that to come anyway!

I am bf DD, now 12 weeks.

For the first 7 weeks she was in a moses basket in our room but as she is quite long she then moved to a cot in her room.

So once or twice a night, whenever she starts to grizzle I have to turn the light on and stumble across the landing to get her and bring her back to feed her in bed.

TBH I would love to have a bedroom / house big enough for her to have a cot in our room or to have a chair upstairs, but our house is like a dolls house.

I have never co-slept, far too scared!

DD was exclusively breastfed for a year (with food at six months obviously!) She slept with us for a month and then spent most of her time in her cot (she snores).

DS has been in his cot from the day we came home from hospital - he snores and kicks He's nearly five months and exclusively breastfed despite being the size of a small town!