Co sleeping

[Firsttimemummy33]

Do you think more people allow their baby to sleep in their bed with them than admit to it?

hell yeah!

We've all done it, myself not so much in the bed but on the sofa in the early hours.

Erm .... No, absolutely not.

Dunno. I always admitted to it if asked.

How else was I going to get in the necessary hours of breastfeeding AND enough sleep myself?

In terms of babies, with both of mind the mws tucked them in bed with me so I was co sleeping from day one.

Never denied DD2 spent chunks of the night BFing in bed with us. (DD1 was a total fidget and happier in the crib).

However, my two are older and predate the ridiculous hysteria over SIDS and co-sleeping and people trying to find crazy arrangements of bedclothes rather than the edge of their quilt and down from their pillows.

Yes.

I denied it too.... at first, then I couldn't care less.

People who bang on about the risks of co-sleeping should instead consider the risk of crashing a car through tiredness, which I imagine is higher. Co-sleeping in the early days was my sanity saviour.

I've never hidden the fact but I was a but embarassed at the start especially as people looked at me funny.
Midwife in the hospital was happy we were co-sleeping, our pediatrician and nurse were both delighted - "adult seals don't leave baby seals on separate rocks" is how she delighfully put it.
I wouldn't be surprised if more people co-slept than admitted, so many people who don't know what they're talking about and don't have kids looking at you sil scare monger. We know the dangers of co-sleeping AND cot sleeping, thanks, and made an educated decision.

We're still enjoying being kicked slapped headbutted kissed first thing in the morning by 18mo DS!

Our nearly 6 month old often sleeps in our bed as he just settles better. I love cuddling with him it's so special. He also has bad exzema and is less inclined to scratch in bed with us. I really don't mind and we all get more sleep this way but feel slightly guilty and as if I'm a failure for not getting him to settle in his own room. It's similar to the feeling when people tell me how their babies sttn from two weeks old ( although not sure whether I really believe them! )

It never occurred to me that people would lie about it. However when I was pg with DS I read about cosleeping and thought, "Pah! Not happening". I saw a pic of a friend cosleeping and I thought, "Isn't that a bit dangerous...?" (I didn't say anything). I read so much about it that I thought it was the 'new thing to do' with babies. Well, I was having none of it.

DS was born. DS has reflux. DS slept in our bed whenever he was grizzly as it made us both happy.

His reflux is settling now that he's older so he doesn't need to come into our bed anymore. Didn't stop DH last night requesting that he join us as he missed having him there

I co sleep with ds aged 13 weeks whilst daddy is on night shifts and there is more space in the bed. There isn't enough room when daddy is home.

Absolutely! However, I've never felt the need to lie about the fact that we co-sleep. It's not something I talk about unless asked though. It's not something I set out to do, but rather something which felt right and was also a matter of survival in the early days!

I co slept from day one. Ds was and still is a terrible sleeper, its was my saving grace! I admitted it from day one....although my HV told me I was making a rod for my own back and that babies need discipline yadda yada. He's 2.3 now and only in the last 9 months have I managed to get him in his own bed....he still sneaks in most nights in the early hours, but I love having a big squishy sleepy cuddle ( the only time he will keep still enough to do this ) :-)

OP read the book "Three In a Bed" - it's brilliant, goes through all of the "against" arguments with coherent points and is great at helping reassure you. It also has advice about how to transition baby to their own bed if and when you want to.

I deliberately cosleep and have done since DD was born. I've been surprised by the amount of cat bum faces and judgey pants about it.

However, interestingly, most of these people have mentioned or posted pics on FB at some point having their baby in bed with them. I sometime wish I could ask if they have done it safely and cat bum face/judge them back

I used to be very reluctant to mention it so as to avoid all the 'she'll still be there when she's 2/5/21' etc. Now I'm very open about it and say confidently that it is a decision we made and are happy with it. Then when people inevitably tell me she'll be in with us forever, I tell them that Japanese/Indian babies quite happily go off to uni etc without having to come home and sleep in their parents beds!

Well quite, sparklekitty! In fact those cultures have a much higher incindence of students going off to do degrees/education abroad at 18 or even 16 or younger so it can't make children that dependent!

At first I didn't and it wasn't until my partners relative came up to my and very quietly asked if he did and I said yes she said its the nicest, safest thing to do and they always did and never had problems with them getting to sleep so enjoy it! It was the relief I needed to accept it and realise heaps of people do!

I've also heard that in many cultures where cosleeping is the norm, death from cosleeping is extremely rare, as is the incidence of SIDS. Apparently it's because many of those same cultures have fewer problems with drugs and alcohol.So basically cosleeping is just one of the variables and you have to look at the bigger picture, such as advice on how to do it safely. Perhaps if more effort were expended in this country on proper advice rather than making parents feel guilty for doing it, we would all be better off.