Any tips from other co-sleepers? Aching and stiff in a morning....

[Tallulah1978]

Our 10 month old DS usually comes in with us from between midnight -2 am and stays cuddled up til time to get up and latches on as he needs to - I'm lucky in that my husband is working hard so that I can stay at home and look after our son.

I love having him in bed with us, and am safe with it and would hate to give up these twilight slumbers, I just wondered if other than co-sleeping safely tips, if anyone had any tips on how to not have a stiff neck, arm, back etc. every morning? Sometimes my back is so sore my kidneys hurt! (if there are no tips I shall do it nonetheless) x

get a thin pillow and wedge it behind your back so that you are resting on it. I had this problem too and it was the only way I could cope.

I think you don't rest easy on your side when DS is in the bed for fear of rolling fwd onto him, that's what I felt anyway, so having something I could roll back onto allowed my back muscles to relax more.

Have you ruled out the possibility that your mattress might need changing? I was like you (bedsharing with 7mo DD) until we bought our new bed and got rid of our old one. The change in comfort was immediate.

Do you know why you're stiff in the mornings - is it that you're sleeping in an uncomfortable position?

My top tip with co-sleeping is to get the biggest bed you possibly can - we have a superking.

Agree with holidaywonk. i had this problem till we bought a superkingsize pocket sprung mattress. pure bliss.

Twitch your pillow behind your head so it supports both shoulder blades. Really easy to do without disturbing your dc and pulls the pillow away from them too.

I do just the same with my 3 month old DD - I find that I am better if I feed her on the side between me and my partner first (when I can stay a wake to change her back over) then feed on the other side untill he get's up, then swap back again; also I have, erm, quite big bobs and have found that once she's latched on, I can gently roll more onto my back without disturbing her - this also means when she is drowsy she lets go and so hopefully won't always need to feed to sleep; the pillow behind the back also works, and have a look at those kidney shaped memory foam neck support pillows, I have found that works really well with my bad back.(These also help because if you turn them at 90 % to the head board they create a kind of trough you can lie the baby on, which is helpful sometimes, if they stay put!)

Pillow behind your back and possibly one between your knees too might help.

Thanks for your replies -
We bought a new mattress whilst I was pregnant as I suffer from sciatica following a slipped disc so it was really important to get that sorted.

We only have a double, I don't think it's space that's the issue - more the position I'm lying in - because I lay on my side to feed him - and because he now only feeds from one side (yes, I am lopsided) and I think because I know he's in bed with us I am constantly waking up and scared I'm going to roll onto him so don't fully relax, like you thumbwitch. It's my neck, shoulder and back that hurt . I've been folding my pillow in half and putting my arm under it so that he can't go under the pillow - that's probably giving me the stiff neck - I tend to like quite a flat pillow, so it's not ideal for me.

So , I think that I shall try using my breastfeeding support pillow as a backrest for me and see if having something to roll back on makes it any easier.

It's funny, I've always slept on my tummy and whilst I was pregnant obviously I couldn't and said 'Ooooooooo, once I've had the baby I can't wait to sleep on my belly again' Fat chance!