Co sleeping and things to know...........

[Newbeginning1]

My mdwife has suggested i try co sleeping as im on my own and determined to breast feed my DS but he will only sleep on me.

Has anyone got any advice/tips for co sleeping as im nervous about it?

thanks

I've co-slept with all my 4 DC, including my baby who is now 6 months. It has helped me so much with breastfeeding.

Tips are to sleep tummy to tummy with your baby. He needs to be quite low in the bed compared to you, and you'll naturally find you cup your knees under his feet and put at arm out over the top of his head.

I suggest you also post in breastfeeding as there will be lots of other suggestions there.

I co slept with my son until he was approx six months old when bein gin the same bed was doing neither of us any good.

I did it because my son was severely tongue tied and i desperately wanted to bf - but he was becoming frustrated with my breast and wouldn't have been able to do bf properly until his tongue was fixed. In the meantime my midwife suggested skin to skin co-sleeping so that he didn't continue to be frustrated and found my breast to be a comforting place. It worked brilliantly - was able to teach him to bf wonderfully after having his tongue sorted at 15 days.

Anyway - I found it easiest to sleep propped up slightly with my v-shaped bf pillow and to have him in between my breasts position-wise oon his tummy also. I then tucked the duvet in underneath me (while he was really tiny) so that he couldn't fall off, as I was nervous of rolling on top of him. I also found that he was great with tummy-time and learning to crawl because he was more than used to being on his front.

Eventually I didn't need to bother with this as he would slip down to one slip and just sleep in the cradle of my arm. He even got to the point where he could feed himself in the night so no sleepless nights for me in the early days. I would sleep on my side with the arm on his side under my head - above him - so that he could have access to the breast whenever he wanted it.

When he got much bigger I'd start him off in the moses basket until he woke for his first night feed (approx 1am) and then he'd finish the night in the bed with me.

I'm 5 months pregnant and am planning to do exactly the same with this one.

Good luck!