What age did you start cosleeping and how?

[SweattyYetti]

Blind swore I would never do this because of safety concerns but my 6wk old is wearing me down! Is she too little to do this safely? What are your experiences?

I was so tired i felt I had no other choice.

What I did make sure was:

• no other person in the bed
• no alcohol
• no pillows
• I used a porous blanket that only wrapped round me (baby had her own sleeping bag).
• dd slept on the crook of my arm and neither of us moved much at all.

Good luck, I found it great and very natural.

From birth pretty much. Like pp, I felt I needed to, I was exhausted.

DD comes into the bed at around 3am and feeds. I have my arm above her head, tucked under my pillow to stop it coming down. I wear a dressing gown to keep me warm and duvet is no higher than knees. DD is in a sleep bag.

From about two weeks I think.

I sleep in a sleeping bag zipped up to my belly and because I'm lying on the unzipped bit with the zip on the side DD is on, there is no loose blanket near her. I do have pillows but I have my arm out above DD's head so they aren't near her.

I found I was sleeping in such a rigid position that I was quite uncomfortable to start with, but sleeping with a cushion in between my knees really helps. DD is 10 months now and we are happily co sleeping. I put her up to bed in our bed and come downstairs for the evening. When I went to bed last night she'd been asleep up there for three hours and we hadn't heard a peep from her.

Three weeks, I'd barely slept in that time. I wish I'd just done it from birth. I slept with my arm over his head, covers halfway up so not over him, though he kicked them away anyway.

You can start from pretty much any age. It didn’t work for us though, which was a crushing blow given everyone thinks of it as a last resort...

DD1 was ff from 6 weeks and before that I was very immobile, I was terrified of SIDS, we started cosleeping at 6 months

DD2, the second night and only because I couldn’t on the first night because I’d had a GA.

These links are helpful

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/co-sleeping/

www.unicef.org.uk/babyfriendly/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/07/Co-sleeping-and-SIDS-A-Guide-for-Health-Professionals.pdf

www.basisonline.org.uk/about-us/

We co-slept birth to 9 months as DD rejected the bedside crib.

I don’t smoke/drugs, didn’t drink a drop of alcohol. Had no duvet on the bed (I wore warm clothes instead) and I took the mattress topper off the bed to make it firmer.
The cats were banished from the bedroom.
It worked brilliantly for us in terms of getting actual sleep and the transition to cot later was easy. My back suffered a bit from the sleeping position.

My daughter had really bad reflux and would only sleep on top of me! Co-sleeping freaked me out, I was soo tired and so scared of her falling out of the bed or being smothered. So she slept in the sling and I stayed up all night. My mum/sister/best friend/ hubby took it in turns to take her noon till 5pm and I went to bed! This lasted until she was 12 weeks, on gaviscon and finally sleeping for 5 hours straight at night.

DC1 from a few weeks old after frightening myself nearly dropping the baby when I feel asleep in a chair feeding at night.

DC2 on and off already and only on day 5.

Covers up to waist and arm above DCs head.

At 6 months. My dd was waking every hour and it became unsustainable as she was in her own room by that point (not enough room in my bedroom for a bigger cot once she'd outgrown her crib). It was a lifesaver up until a certain point. At 8 months she was waking hourly again, despite Co sleeping so I persisted with putting her down in her cot. Night weaning helped her stay down without needing boob to settle. We had a short Co sleeping journey but it really did help for a short time. I think it's very natural.

Follow the advice from the lullaby Trust and la leche league to make sure you're doing it safely.

DC1 was about 6 months, but we we're very sleep deprived during those 6 months, which in retrospect probibly put him at more risk. DC2 co-slept from birth, including the first night in the hospital, the midwives were fine with it.

I used something similar to this https://www.silvercrossbaby.com/the-essentials-collection/voyager-co-sleeper/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw2NyFBhDoARIsAMtHtZ71NaveaAuKh-rgWentiP1sZuSn3oUtQgmbBncM9m2XOCF0A3Q1iQaApllEALwwcB

The risk really drops at 4 months, but I co-slept from birth with both of mine and probably will with DC3. It just makes sense to me instinctually. I think it's quite likely that being close to them and in tune, the lighter sleep you both go into, the positive effect on breastfeeding etc all provide a protective effect against SIDS which probably cancels out the higher inherent risk of an adult bed, particularly if you're being careful about the risky parts of an adult bed, which are gaps, bedding, suffocation, overlying and overheating.

In a c-shape around baby (similar to recovery position) with their head level with your boob.

Baby on their back, or side facing you.

My lower arm as a barrier between baby and pillow.

Using a bedside cot (I converted one and then bought a purpose built one for DC2) so they could not roll out of the bed.

Duvet behind my back, and up to my knees (knee was a barrier between blanket and baby). Cellular blanket over baby and me. No sleeping bag (Apparently you can do it with a sleeping bag, I just always felt they got too hot.) Don't swaddle. I wore warm PJs (Autumn babies) and they wore a vest and sleepsuit - just dress for the temperature. I went by the rule of feeling their chest or back and if it was sweaty remove a layer, if it feels cool put one on.

No smokers - smoking + co-sleeping is quite risky apparently. I occasionally smoke socially but absolutely not when co-sleeping, I don't touch them at all.

No alcohol unless I could be sure it would have worn off by bedtime. I was quite strict about it. One glass up to about early evening was OK, but I wouldn't have drunk even a tiny amount after about 6pm, nor drunk a large amount during the day. If I did drink (very rare TBH) I put the baby in a separate cot. I didn't like those nights because it was so disturbing to keep waking up with them! So I simply didn't drink very often. It doesn't bother me at all, I'm not really a drinker anyway.

Thanks everyone it's such a scary jump as a FTM