Calling all sleepless co-sleepers......

[chicca]

DS (Now 7.5 months) has been in bed with us since he was born with the odd couple of hours here and there in moses basket and then cot. He clearly loves being in bed with us and although he wakes all through the night (every 2 hours at least) a quick bf will get him back off again ( I know it's mostly for comfort).
I am really knackered but still able to function (not sure how).
Is anyone else co-sleeping and happy about it?
Most people are looking for ways to get baby OUT of the bed but is anyone still doing it and happy with the situation?
I'm sure at some point (when cot is actually put up!) we will have to go through CC or whatever. But despite tiredness, bad backs, dodgy hips etc.DH and I are ok with the status quo.

Ah, TB, I see you think you are such a fantastic parent that what you did made your child a good sleeper from seven weeks. All I am going to say is wait until you have another baby.... Smugness comes before a non-sleeper...

Don't think I'm particularly fantastic at all. Just making the point that I don't abandon my child in an empty room screaming for hours until she falls asleep.

Think Tokenbloke's tone a bit harsh, but he does make a couple of valid points - Leeds PCT area strongly recommend no bed sharing (and do not allow it in their hospitals) cos babies were smothered/crushed in NHS hospital by tired mums. Don't think this was widely publicised but info like this needs to be out there for people to make informed decision.

"Ten in a bed situation" is a valid point too- presumably bed sharing less common in larger families through lack of space !!

And, rather than gang up on Tokenbloke, I have read this thread from the beginning and the majority of the posts are people asking how they now go about stopping the bedsharing, so there must come a point when its no longer "natural" or "desireable" or "beneficial" to either parent or child. If its OK to put a kid to sleep alone in later years, why is it not OK to do this from birth? Is there a point when the child suddenly does not need that kind of parental closeness anymore?

I am reading Token Bloke's main message as being, start as you mean to go on, and if you fancy bed sharing with a wet dreaming 13 year old, hell go for it, otherwise, its easier in the long run not to start something you can't finish. Then again, he could just be a troll

i agree with everyone! gemini. however! will say... everyone starts a lot of things they intend to change later! hence diets! ...dummies...oh lots of things!

Exactly.
With my next baby I won't get into that stupid habit of putting nappies on - I don't want to have a 10 year old who still wears nappies.
And I won't use a pushchair either. After all I won't want to push a 12 year old to school one day.

Children grow up and their needs change and they will leave your bed when they're ready...and that's quite likely to be well before the age of 13, too.

Well put emkana. Newborns are programmed to wake every 2/3 hours because they have tiny stomachs and hence need to feed often. They don't even have the same sleep patterns as an older child. Apparently a baby's brain is still developing at birth and takes another 9 months to grow properly. I've read that babies are actually born too early (developmentally speaking) but we have to give birth because they just get too big.

It is easier to feed a baby lying down in the early weeks/months than getting up to a cot. Yes at some point it becomes a habit and its up to the individual parents/child to work out when that is. ALL babies are different as are ALL people - they develop differently. It may be right for one baby to sleep in a cot early on but it isn't the case for all of them.

Personally I felt happier having my baby waking more often than trying to stuff them with too much milk and worrying that they'd have cot death, sorry bit garbelled dd is hassling me...

right on emkana!

Aloha, you do exactly wha I do with ds (nearly 7 months). he goes to bed in his cot (by our bed) then when he wakes for feed I bring him in bed with me so I don't have to sit up again. he just glugs away all night and I barely stir. Love our nights! DH often ends up on sofa as we take up all the room

My 2nd is due in June and me and ds1 (nearly 3) are still v happy co-sleeping. We have a double futon on the floor in his room which has been fantastic from a safety and a comfort point of view. I will be co-sleeping with him and the new baby from birth - one on each side or, if it gets crowded, possibly putting a cot mattress on the floor next to me. And ds1 has on occasion bunked in with his dad. I think everyone who co-sleeps finds their own solutions which suit the needs of their children.

My dh is happy to forgo my presence in "our" bed in the knowledge that our ds is happy and secure. At the end of the day this stage of their lives is so short and precious - hopefully me and dh will have plenty of time to reaquaint with each other nocturnally in the future. Besides, it hasn't done our sex life any harm, quite the contrary, it has made us not take each other's physical presence for granted (if that makes sense) - and I got pregnant again didn't I!! Lovemaking doesn't have to be under cover of darkness - that's why naps were invented!

I do like sharing a bed with my husband and don't intend to sleep with my baby forever, but anyone who has a wild sex life when they are being woken up by a small baby has more stamina than me anyway

clairemagnolia - good post. We had our kids 8 years into our relationship so feel we had heaps of time together in bed and as you say will have in the future. The thing is adults sleep together so why shouldn't children and adults - children are people after all?!

Many people didn't used to be able to afford separate beds and kids and adults alike had to bunk up together. I don't think anyone died of smothering or overheating then.