Co sleeping advice

[Catarinah]

My little boy is 12 weeks old and has coslept since day 1 (although this wasn't the plan) and there's currently still no hope of getting him into his next to me (I keep revisiting it every now and again.) He just will not sleep without me. However, although I'm happy to continue Co sleeping until he's ready to move to his next to me, I'm struggling to continue sleeping with him in me arms because I'm not really sleeping properly and now that he's getting older and heavier (he was premature so was only 5lb5oz born but now is 12lbs) I'm getting dead arms and a sore back. To give more context, he feeds in bed whilst I'm lying on my side and after he falls to sleep I slide my arm under him and bring him up higher up the bed - if I try move him higher and leave him without my arm he starts to wave his arms around and wakes himself up (he's in a sleeping bag as swaddling isn't safe when do sleeping plus he hated it when we tried that in his next to me). I also can't leave him to sleep where he falls asleep on my boob as he's too low down the bed and I'd be anxious about the blanket covering him. I want to be able to pull him up to the top of the bed so he sleeps next to me, not in my arm... I've tried putting him on a thing blanket or muslin and pulling him up but he wakes up. Just to note 90% he's fed to sleep, we can rock him but it can take up to an hour which isn't ideal as hes still waking up 3 times on average for night feeds. He has a 2 to 3 hour nap in the day where he sometimes manages alone but this is because I feed him in bed and then roll away (he's not moved from the middle of the bed because no one else is in it so no danger of blanket moving). When this happens I watch him on the monitor and his arms do move but he doesn't fully wake up like he does at night. Oh and another note (sorry this is turning into a long post) but he's on propanalol medication for a haemangioma and one side effect is lower blood pressure/wheezing so I need to keep an eye on him whilst he sleeps so another reason why we want to stick to co sleeping for now. Any tips appreciated - thanks in advance

Ditch the duvet - I used a flat sheet and a cellular for me, and nothing for DS (vest and babygrow. I also tended to sleep in a C shape, with my arm above his head, and my knees beneath his feet. We coslept like this from day one (again, not planned), until I managed to get him into his own room at about 18 months.

I also got a snuza hero to clip on to his nappy because I was stressing myself out checking him constantly.

I read this post and thought I had written it!

My baby girl is 12 weeks too, and sleeps on me. I'm trying to transition her to a cot (also not sleeping well/dead arms/heavy baby etc). I've found that it's a little easier if she falls asleep on me for the first 2-3 hours and then I can put her in her cot more easily after a middle-of-the-night feed . It doesn't always work, but it's kinda doing the job. I've had one night now where she's slept on her own the entire night!

I've also got one of those Ewan the Dream Sheep which helps if she stirs.

@snowybean it's hard isn't it? I've just thought today that I could try letting him asleep on a thin blanket that's on one of those nappy changing pads (you know the ones that look like puppy training pads?) just because they're quite slippery underneath so may be easier to slide him up the bed on... No idea how it'll go but worth trying it...

Official advice is to not use a duvet or blanket for you and your baby’s face should be level with your boobs. If you place a pillow between your knees and one behind your lower back that you lean back into it supports you a bit. I also find swapping the baby to the other side during the night to be helpful.