co-sleeping?

[giantpurplepeopleeater]

Hello - sorry I wasn't sure where to post this so am guessing this is the right place. Sorry if not.

I am a new mum - my DS is now 2 weeks old and he is my first. Am trying to find a way of parenting that suits me but not doing too well. I haven't got/ read any books on parenting and development - I was persuaded that once he was here I would know what to do and what was right for us, but I am floundering a bit.

He is currently sleeping in a swinging crib next to our bed, but I am not sure I like this. I find myself wanting to be closer and continualy checking on him. I have seen some posters on here talk about co-sleeping and was wondering about it.

This isn't something I have heard of - can someone please explain what it involves? All the advice I have been given by midwives etc indicates that crib next to the bed is the recommended way so what is co-sleeping and how do you do it?? Will it allow me to be closer to my DS??

Thanks

I co-slept with my DD until 34 months. Initially she was in my bed, but we did then get a bedside cot (from e bay so much cheaper than new) so we had a bit more room. She wore a baby sleeping abg and slept on top of the covers and I somehow wrapped the duvet round me and wore a cardi for those cold nights as we have no central heating. It was great for us.
The advice says that you should not co-sleep if you or your partner have been smoking, drinking or taking drugs and if you google co-sleeping advic you should come up with so more useful advice...
I will see if I can fins a useful link..

((www.askdrsears.com/html/7/t071000.asp))

Thanks Hels71.

I have just had a quick look at this (haven't had chance to read fully through the whole thing) and noticed that they recommend a cot that attaches to the bed, and that there are possibly some benefits to sleeping together.

During the day - would a sling achieve the same thing?

I have co-slept with my 15month dd since she was born. I have a single quilt over me and she sleeps under her own quilt next to me. For the first month she literally slept in the crook of my arm, which prevented me from rolling onto her. My Dp sleeps in another bed. This wouldn't be ideal for everyone but it suits us. He snores!

Although at first it made life so much easier (easy breastfeeding, no getting up in the night) it IS getting harder because she now wriggles and kicks alot in the night. She spends 8pm to 2 pm in the cot now, and then comes in with me. When she eventually sleeps through (mad laugh) I'll start leaving her in the cot for longer.

I am currently co-sleeping with 2.2 yo DD (although going to stop soon because I'm 30 weeks pregnant). It's been brilliant, especially for BF because I don't have to get up

In the early days she just slept in our bed but as she got bigger we used a side-car cot. We didn't buy a special one, we just got a cot bed from Ikea and took one of the sides off. It's the same height as our bed and it's wedged in so there is no gap between the mattress and the cot.

Slings are a brilliant thing to have, it allows you so much freedom to get stuff done whilst keeping your DS close. There are lots of different kinds and some people find they prefer certain ones. If you go to a sling meet near you or some other sling-friendly group (I know everyone at my LLL group uses slings) then I'm sure there will be someone that will let you try a few different ones before you buy. Ebay has some brilliant bargains. I prefer ring slings myself.

Co-sleeping is wonderful! I wish that I'd been brave enough to do it with DS1. I had a much better time of it with DS2, who ended up co-sleeping almost by accident.

Co-sleeping is brilliant.

I co-sleep with ds2 who is 12weeks old. Well, he spends 7-12 in his basket then comes in with me.

When he was younger and tiny he slept in the crook of my arm whilst I was sleeping on my side, I layered myself with thin blankets.

Now he's a bit bigger I prop him on his side by placing a pillow behind his back (he's a tummy sleeper when in his Moses basket and refuses to sleep on his back) and I lay on my side facing him. I have a duvet and he is in a sleeping bag. I keep my boobs free and he helps himself through the night.

It has made breastfeeding a whole lot easier too.

So wish I had the confidence to do it with ds1.

At that age I'd 'co-sleep' with baby in a cot beside the bed, one especially designed where the side comes off easily. Then there's plenty of room.

My DD slept in a sling almost all the time when she was small. I had a didymos wrap which was fantastic! I then got a mei tai when she moved to my back (because I never got the hang of the back carry with the didymos even though you can do it.)I got mine from e bay...

i did it part time with both my boys and was much happier and more relaxed. i borrowed a few books for routines but got really stressed out and they were too restrictive for us. i had a bedside cot so it had brakes on the wheels and was wedged against the chest of drawers. i would pick them up for the first feed of the night then they'd end up staying there till i got up in the morning. i also co-slept for afternoon naps which was lovely. i kept baby with me pretty much all the time, used a sling and let them sleep however and whenever they wanted.

i followed dr.sears for the first few months then baby started settling into it's own routine and as they started sleeping better/longer at night we got them ready to move to their own room around 6months. i then tried to stick to bit of a sleep routine to make life easier for all of us.

there have been a lot of 'what shall we do?!?' conversations but at the end of the day we found it easier to just chill out and let baby do it's own thing, and do whatever we were happy with at the time. as they got older we found we wanted more of a routine so we slowly went from one extreme to the other!