Co-Sleeping...what do you HONESTLY think?

[SuperGrrrl]

DS2 is sleeping in our room as we only have 2 bedrooms at the moment. He starts off in his cot, but when he wakes in the night,i bring him into bed.

I know you aren't 'supposed' to do it, but it's v cuddly and easy, and i usually just breastfeed him lying down in bed then through the night.

I'm conscious that it may make moving him into DS1s room more difficult though, or that we might never get him out of our bed.

We DO have a duvet, which is never on him. We don't smoke, but we do have a drink many evenings before bed.

Has anyone co slept and found that they've (to use that lovely phrase) made a rod for their own back? (He's almost 4mths BTW)

co-sleeping here since night 1 - the midwives put DS in bed with me in the ward when he wouldn't settle! I read up on it - recommend '3 in a bed' if you haven't already read it. Very cheering book if you think you may be doing the 'wrong thing' by co-sleeping.

I think its fine if they are in with you for bf or if they wake and wont settle, but i wouldnt actively encourage myDC to sleep with me without trying him in cot/crib/bed first.

Did it occasionally with ds1 and with ds 2 when he woke loads as a newborn. Now he is 22 wks he sleeps in own cot in own room but i do bring him in with me sometimes during the night if he unsettled.For example this morning he woke about half 5, too early to get up, so put him in with us till i got up.

Its lovely and cosy but i wouldnt want it to continue really as a permanent thing if it wasnt for feeding reasons myself, after babyhood.

how do you have sex with a baby/toddler in bed? easy. do it when they are errr, asleep.

within a couple bonks all inhibitions disappears.

Kiskidee!

(how was yesterday?)

Indith m'love!

I returned today after a mammoth house move to the sticks and loss of Internet connection for a few months.

Oh how I have missed this place and its lovely mothers. How's the gorgeous DS? I will email you anon and get a proper update on happenings with you.

twas good.

I met bouncingturtle and her scrummy 8wo ds.
Had a couple other regulars here at my house with their kids. dd thank goodness was not trying to hoard all her toys away from the other kids.

was knackered last night as i am 10wk pg (from bonking in bed while dd was asleep ), I'm needing my afternoon sleep these days to cope.

And there was me thinking you already lived in the sticks There is a farm cottage for rent near us with an aga and a fire. I want it, dp says no (that and the fact that we are contracted here til July!)

The beautiful boy is a 20lb midget on a perpetual snot cycle. But I still think he is pretty cute . Can't walk, can't talk but can destroy the living room in the blink of an eye and operate the TV

Hope the lovely lady is keeping you on your toes. Shall expect a good long yarn to arrive in my inbox and further distract me from my essays.

Congratulations!

I think co-sleeping is great, as anyne who has ever read a post of mine on how to get mroe sleep with a baby will know!

I'm pg with DC3 atm and this time aroudn we have a bedside cot (Well a cot UD told me about in IKEA where you can take off one side) Baby will be going to bed in the cot by itself but can be pulled over into my bed whilst feeding so I'll have best of both worlds.

DS co-slept for about 6 months then started sleeping through so didn;t see the need anymore.

I will echo everyone else that ahs said about drinking and co-sleeping, please don't. If you want to co-sleep then great, do it, but research it and do it properly, there are guidelines on how to do it safely.

Love it - the only way I get enough sleep to function with baby and toddler.

DH is sleeping in the spare room because he leaves at 6:30am for work and doesn't want to wake us. It is also known as the 'nooky room' to get around the sex-while-co-sleeping issue.

I was in hospital for 5 nights with DD, who is now 5 weeks old. The midwife in the hospital actually encouraged me to breastfeed lying down on the very first night after birth, so that if we fell asleep we'd be fine and she could stay in bed with me. She slept with me (baby, not midwife!) every night in hospital and now sees the night through in her moses basket and comes into my bed at about 7 each morning. The midwife knows best!

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I have no issues with other people doing it, but on the odd occasion that ds ends up in our bed I get no sleep at all - he kicks and punches me all night long, I swear his normal body temperature must be at least 10 degrees above normal, and he sometimes snores (shades of his father - but one snorer in bed is bad enough!)

all of mine came into the bed at some point..usually started whilst small babies and bf, then sort of carried on! right now my youngest 2 children aged 3.5 and 2 yrs start off in their own beds and then ususally come into our room in the early hours, and then creep in our bed to snuggle up! usually poor dh gets out and goes in one of their beds..we are too squashed otherwise! TO BE REALLY HONEST I THINK ITS A COMPLETE PAIN IN THE A#SE AND I WISH THEY WOULD JUST STAY IN THEIR OWN BEDS! however..i continue to let them do it because.. i know they won't do it forever. my oldest 2 boys would'nt bother now and hav'nt done from the age of about 4yrs. also the other night i asked my 3 yr old why she comes into mummys bed. her reply was "because i miss you and i feel scared when i wake up in the night". bless her!

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co-slept with no.2 and 3 and they are both easy-peasy now to get them in their own beds and get to sleep.

guess who is the one who can't sleep, moans a lot and wants the door ajar - yes, your right, we 'made' her sleep in her cot.

: (

one of my most deepest regrets.

We did it and shall do it again.
If you are breastfeeding at night co-sleeping is the perfect solution -
as long as you follow all the safety advice!

As for sex, I was too much of a prude to have sex next to a baby.
It forced us to be more imaginative, though. Which was nice.

And the rod thing, well, you cross that bridge when you get there.

Love co-sleeping. Babies expect it because it has been essential to their survival for millions of years (body heat in caves/forests etc).

I never wanted to and nor did DP. Neither of my children have ever slept in our bed but I don't think there's anything wrong with it.

My worry would be getting them to go to sleep again in their own cot and personally I wouldn't want to risk having that problem.

Also on a totally selfish note - can't have alcohol if co-sleeping and sex would be difficult too. I am a light sleeper and would be disturbed!!!!

JMHO

ds1 - dc4- did it and i would have carried it on if i wasnt worried about him getting teased at school, he starts this year.

I would have them all in my room if i could tho, but as dd1 is nearly 15 i dont think she would agree

ds1 settled fine into his new room tho often snuggles in with me in the early hours