Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

co-sleeping - is it safe?

37 replies

PrincessScrumpy · 05/04/2011 17:03

When I had dd 3 years ago my mw and hv went crazy when I mentioned that occasionally we had dd in our bed as she really didn't sleep for 4 months. With twins I'm ready more and more people saying they co-slept with the babies and it seems the norm. HVs even seem to support it with twins. I just don't get why the advice is different for twins than singles on this matter.

I'm looking at ways to get through the bad nights sleep we have coming. Any tips.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

ChristinedePizan · 07/04/2011 10:04

You don't need to nappy change every feed, only if they need it (usually only once/twice a night). Not having to get out of bed means you are much more likely to go straight back to sleep again after (and your baby will too)

redvelvetmooncupcake · 07/04/2011 10:32

My HV gave me a leaflet about safe co-sleeping before I even had my baby and my midwive TOLD us to do it (she pointed out we didn't drink, smoke or take any medication and we should make the bed safe and get on with it!). We do live in a area where a lot of people are from cultures where co-sleeping is the norm though.

DD is 11mo and still co-sleeping (she does often spend part of the night in cot at the end of our bed) and we are much less tired than people we know who put DC in their own rooms...it's whatever works for you but I can see that with twins it could well save your sanity to co-sleep!

I was suprised how safe it FELT actually, I didn't feel as anxious about the baby when she was very close to me.

I hope to have DC2 at some point and intend to co-sleep from the off, preferably with a sidecar cot this time.

RitaMorgan · 07/04/2011 10:49

Woodifer - my ds stopped pooing in the night at about 6 weeks, so after that I stopped changing nappies. He never needed burping either - lots of breastfed babies don't as they aren't swallowing air from a bottle (though so do need it). I fed him lying down so would only wake to latch him on, then fall asleep again before he finished feeding anyway.

RitaMorgan · 07/04/2011 10:49

Actually it might have been earlier than that even, 3 or 4 weeks (memory is hazy!).

Crystyclear · 07/04/2011 12:07

My DS wakes twice in the night for a feed now at 2am and 5am (used to be three times), but he's not really awake. I just help him latch on and then go back to sleep.

He doesn't poo in the night either. sometimes if his nappy seems heavy/full or we're both a bit more awake then I might change his nappy on the second feed at 5am. If he needs burping, I roll him onto his side and gently rub his back, or lay him front down on my tummy and rub his back. after, I put him back down next to me and neither of us struggle to go back to sleep.

The best way I found of avoiding being too awake/waking either of us up much is to sleep with a torch by my pillow. I can turn that on and angle away from DS to latch him on and do anything that needs a little bit light.

Woodifer · 07/04/2011 22:26

wowgod tips here that aren't in the leaflet

Woodifer · 07/04/2011 22:27

that was meant to say wow good tips

Woodifer · 10/04/2011 16:41

Here is another co-sleeping question.

At what stage have you stopped co-sleeping? And how did you transfer to own bed/ room??

RitaMorgan · 10/04/2011 16:46

About 5 months - we had a bedside cot so ds always started the night in that anyway. One night we just moved it into his room, it was fine.

otchayaniye · 10/04/2011 18:49

I co-slept with my first for the first 20 months. Mind you, I had her abroad and we didn't have health visitors and so I researched it and was happy to do it on that basis. Plus I'd have found breastfeeding much harder.

I never bought a cot in the end (or a pram, but that's another story)

I won't bother buying one for this one either.

otchayaniye · 10/04/2011 18:51

Oh, at 20 months I was breastfeeding less frequently and moved her to a normal bed in her own room and she slept through that very first night. I certainly haven't escaped all sleep problems (getting her to sleep can sometimes be tricky) but she sleeps through 98 percent of the time.

BertieBotts · 12/04/2011 09:03

Just stopped with DS who is 2.5. Bought him a bed and the transition has been smooth from his POV - he loves his bed, just weird for me! He does wake during the night and come into my bed but this is very very slowly getting later and later. Getting him to sleep in the first place is just as easy (or difficult) as it was before. When I first moved him his main waking of the night moved earlier, but it's getting back to where it used to be (4ish - 5 if you take into account the clocks changed)

I wanted to wait until he was in a bed so I could lie with him still if he needed that rather than going through the palaver of settling him in a cot and then him not being able to come and find me by himself as well. We seem to have had less trouble actually than friends who have gone from cot to bed because he's used to sleeping on something without sides.

Flip

1 2