Sleeping Comfortably with Baby

[Purp]

We are currently sleeping with our five month old girl in our bed, partly because she is still feeding at night and partly because we believe it is comforting for her. She is sleeping very well between us but sometimes I would like to sleep cuddling her as it seems a waste to have her with us but to not be touching.

My question is, is it possible to sleep cuddled up to a five month old? Do you put your arm under her neck and hope you're not going to give her a stiff neck and you a dead arm? Are you then unable to move all night? This may sound wierd but I'd really like some very practical help from some fellow baby in the bed people. Thank you.

Purp, in my experience it is quite difficult to cuddle a sleeping baby if they don't want to be cuddled. At five months my babies both slept on their backs with their arms up and usually took up enough room for a much bigger child. Cuddling them was am impossibility although it was still lovely to have them close by. Babies tend to wriggle into the position they want to be in. All is not lost though as my toddler virtually clings to me when he sleeps in our bed now. he is 16 months. He just wraps himself around dh or myself when he wants to and snuggles into us to sleep.

Our kids have slept in our bed on and off for so long that I don't remember in detail. I know I used to worry about the weight of my arm on them when they were tiny, so I used to kind of encircle them and rest the weight on my hand - very uncomfortable, now I come to think of it. I think we just kind of snuggled up close until they were big enough to throw off any weight (bedclothes etc) they chose. Little tyrants, but its a great way to keep physically close, especially if you are out at work most of the day. Happy memories.

Cuddling babies? My only experience of sleeping with my son is that he sleeps sideways across the bed using my head as a pillow - for his feet!!

purp - depends how big your baby is. My boy was quite small at 5 months and I could have him encircled within my arm with his head actually resting on my upper arm. However his head soon got heavy and I took to tucking him under my arm. Then as he grew I'd have to keep my arm further and further up which did get a bit uncomfy at times. Really the cuddling has only become possible and comfortable once he got to a toddler and he can lie on his side with his back against my tummy.

My son used to sleep on my belly then I would just put an arm over him to stop him rolling out. Now, at 18 months, (while still trying to get him back in his cot) he lays on my arm and snuggles right in.

My 4 month old baby sleeps snuggled up to me with her face resting on my breasts (sorry to be so graphic!) and my arms encircling her waist. We both sleep very well like this and when I turn over, she just comes with me.

Thanks very much everyone, this was my first time of asking something on mumsnet and it really is lovely to get support and help off people. Thanks again and I'll try some of it out tonight!

Hi Purp and welcome - know exactly what you mean about getting a dead arm - I used to do this all the time with dd in bed. I'd always manage to get my arm under her head and the pillow and used to wake up in the night with one v cold floppy arm! I think that the closeness you get with feeding is about as much as you can expect at that age. Believe me, when she's older you'll get all the cuddles in bed you could ever want!