Co-sleeping and breast feeding....do you get any 'sleep'?

[PlantASeedWatchItGrow]

For those of you who are (or have) both been breast feeding and co-sleeping, do you get enough sleep? Do you just fall back off to sleep whilst LO is feeding, or do you stay awake?

FYI I'm not b/feeding/co-sleeping yet we are TTC#2 but knowing how terrible to first few weeks are with sleep anyway, was wondering how it would work.

hi plantaseedwatchitgrow, i say follow your heart and instinct on this one. i felt strongly about bfing and hated the thought of sleep deprived mothers. i asked my mother how it was for her and she said well back home (Bangladesh) almost all mothers sleep with their babies and bf. mothers in the 3rd world dont have the luxuries we have and have to make do with sleeping with all da kids, the husband and cat on the same bed/floor and as formula milk cost and bf doesn't well they have no options. its also very rare for babies to get caught under mummies as well as you just somehow know they are there. please bear in mind that these mother most of them tend not to drink, smoke or take drugs and so are quiet alert asleep. also studies have shown that mother and baby do asort of dance where if the other moves towards the child, the child moves away and vice versa, this has been captured on video! And trust me it saves a womans sanity. i did it with ds1 upto 2 years and am doing it with ds2 6 months on and hope to upto 2 as well. early days its hard, especially as you and baby are trying to establish bfing but when you click you CLICK!i am the only mother amongst friends who is perky, alert and not sleep deprived. please read into it and again, follow your heart, you are the mother and most of the time MOTHER KNOWS BEST.

No, bohemian me too! DD is 17 weeks and we are co-sleeping but knackered - wriggles, scratches,wants to feed all night - my back is now killing me. I do try putting her back in cot at the end of the bed when I can but whilst she goes back sometimes, often she won't (like last night)...

I only feel okay if I go to bed with her around 8pm - she settles ok in her cot at that time. after the first feed which is around 11/12/1/2/3 (depends!)she stays with me, always on outside; we have a bedguard, she sleeps in a gro bag and I tuck the duvet under. I would say overall I get more sleep, but by no means enough! In fact am here now as am avoiding going to 'sleep'...

Yes like Kutil I co-slept with my older children till they were around 2 yo and now my dd2 is 71/2 months and has been in with us since day one. we have a superkingsize bed now which means dh is more comfortable and also a co-sleeper cot (bought from Mothercare) but usually it just has toys etc. in it dd is always next to me.

She is an easy baby to sleep next to her siblings were more fidgety but it made life easier for me. We have both children in there own bedrooms now and they sleep well alone. They come in with us for a snuggle in the morning, though we kick them out if they get too rough! (they are 3 and 4 now)

Good luck with ttc and making your decision plantaseed.

Thanks everyone!

bigmouth (sorry!) I can't seem to find a co-sleeper cot in mothercare. Could you point me in the right direction? Or any other co-sleeper cot?

Has anyone tried one of those co-cleeper nests that I pointed out earlier? They look good, as in, you couldn't roll over onto them, cheaper than a cot. But not sure how good they are for feeding oin the night?

I got the cot nearly 5 years ago so I Am sure the range is different now! But it is a basic wooden cot with one side that can drop down either partially or completely (and slots underneath), while the height of the base can adjust to the height of your bed. I will look at mothecare website for a similar model.