This site has links to several others on co-sleeping. Dr James McKenna, University of Notre Dame (Indiana, USA) has done a massive amount of research into co-sleeping and is a leading proponent. www.cosleeping.org/ The question of where the baby sleeps is all bound up with individual parenting styles and preferences, with not much mention of the effect of sheer exhaustion on a mother -- the physical effort of rising from a nice cozy bed time after time every night to attend to the baby cannot be understated ime.
Here are a few comments that really bear repeating;
'I was so exhausted I was terrified that I would drop DS. Bed felt much safer because I would lie down so that there was nowhere for DS to fall if I fell asleep.'
'I always get in bed to feed at night because I am scared of falling asleep-'
'The difference being is I got even more tired trotting up and down to her, and even hurt both her and me falling over one night while hallucinating.' THIS CAN HAPPEN
'in the chair I used to have my feet up high and be leant back, so even if I did nod off baby wouldn't have gone anywhere or got squashed.'
'it's worth making your bed safe - better to accidentally fall asleep lying down in a safe bed than fall asleep on a sofa etc while desperately trying to stay awake.'
Gherkins and Miffster; I changed probably ten nappies at night throughout my whole experience of 5 babies. The only reason to change a nappy imo, is a massive poo, otherwise far better to leave the nappy til morning and save yourself many sleepless hours. The point made earlier about helping babies to develop day/night differentiation is very important here. The less disturbance to the baby's sleep at night the better. Nothing is guaranteed to wake a sleepy baby faster than a cold wet wipe on his little rear end.
Burping can be done in a bed just as easily as on a chair; my technique was to lay the baby on my outstretched left hand, holding her at about a 45 degree angle and pat and rub until a burp was produced. I've also burped babies by sitting up slightly in bed and doing what I would in a chair. All of mine needed a lot of work to get a burp up and they wouldn't settle again until this was accomplished, but it can definitely be done in a bed. (Am also jealous of anyone whose baby could sleep without burping) Burping gets much easier once the baby can hold his little head up. It's tricky with a newborn, and if your baby gulps and splutters as she latches on or when your milk comes in, a lot of air can be swallowed.
"you may find yourselves waking up the first few weeks and scrabbling around in the bed trying to find the baby, thinking they've fallen off the branch. No one's probably warned you that you'll actually just turn into monkey mummies!" This is sooooooo true, (and so funny).
You will be such a different person, almost a newborn you, a complete mammal, when your baby arrives. And you will never sleep the same again, not for years and years. When you manage to sleep long enough to dream, you will dream of sleeping.
Congrats on the scan, JoEW 