confused about co-sleeping

[bluepanda]

DS2 is just one wk old, and just loves bodily contact. He spent a day in spcial care when he was just a day old and for the next couple of days in hospital he just wailed if he was put down.He is lot more settled now we are home and happily naps in the day, but at night he seems to sleep better if he is next to us. I have been tending to breast feed lying down and invariably fall asleep, then wake up and put him in moses basket.
My question is this - in the hospital they kept banging on about not sleeping with your baby (and one particularly brusque midwife woke me three times one night to tell me off for falling asleep cuddled up) - so how safe is co sleeping and those of you that do it, do you just smile and ignore the midwives and health visitors?

Yes do ignore them! Just make sure you keep him well away from duvets/pillows - just sheets and blankets would be best!

I did it quite happily and ignored midwives.. you need a big bed with a soft landing below and yes I agree not big feathery duvets.

falling asleep with DD is the only thing I miss about the baby stage. Had I not been able to have that bonding time I wouldnt have felt much for her at all

Co-sleeping is the only thing that keeps me sane sometimes.

I didn't with no.1 and wish I had. No.2 sleeps with me most nights and DH in the spare room. Long may it last

I just told the midwives and HV that this is what we were doing and challenged them to try to tell me different [stroppy cow]

Yes,ignore ignore.I had so much grief from the midwives (and I was in for ten days)that I drove myself to the point of derangement by staying awake all night with my baby and then sleeping whenDH arrived and could carry her around.The bf advisor helped show me how to wrap the bedcover so that the baby was safe,but the midwives still fussed like mad,even about skin to skin (insisting that she would get cold even though she was on me and the hosp was boiling hot.Keep any pillows away,watch out for the gap between the bed and the wall, and don't let your baby get too hot.I did have a duvet,but I slept with it held down by my arm,and I found I naturally slept in the BF baby position,sort of wrapped around dd.There is a good thread on here that might be helpful,I will try and link to it.(btw both mine are still in the bed..)
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_live_events/980577-Live-webchat-with-sleep-expert-Dr-Helen-Ball-Tuesday -15th here

Health professionals can be horrid. I was in hospital with ds when he was only a few days old because he had pneumonia, and one night the nurse came in to me and ds sleeping together and she picked him up, plumped him in his bed and said "do you want to kill this baby"

Funnily enough all the midwives were v supportive of me co sleeping, and even provided bed guards for the side that I was feeding the baby and sleeping. V important to follow safety guidelines, but co sleeping has been shown to be safe if safety guidelines followed [not under duvet, not on sofas, not on medication and no drinking or smoking]

Ignore.

Co sleeping would be a lot safer if MWs & HVs advised new parents on how to do it safely rather than 'telling people off' for doing it.

Make sure your bedding is suitable -I slept with a sheet and a cellular blanket when DD was tiny. I have my duvet back now (she's 9 mths), but keep it only over my legs and kind of tucked underneath me so there's no way she could snuggle down.

Make sure your partner is always aware that baby is in the bed (or move him to the spare room for a while...). If you or he have been smoking or drinking do not co sleep.

I can't believe you were actually woken to be made to put your baby in the cot . The hospital DD was born at actually had sidecar type cots attached to the bed, which was fabulous.

Oh and putting your mattress on the floor helps,as when they start to move about they can't fall far.(cue dd2,who woke to find herself on the floor about three feet from the bed in the middle of the night aged 24 months and wailed "you've left me here! on the floor! all on my own!!" I did also use a sheet and blanket at the very beginning.Some babies do wriggle down the bed,although mine didn't, and that's when a duvet is dangerous.I had my knees up under mine so they couldn't move down the bed much.Also found that dd1 hardly ever cried as I would wake with her instictively and feed her back to sleep.

Ignore Ignore i co sleep with my DD 7 weeks and its wonderful, she sleeps in the crock of my arm with my knees up underneath her so she cant slip down and she sleeps so much better. In her cot she is realy restless and wakes every hr or so but with me she sleeps for 7 hrs. bliss.

Just do what you feel is right for you.

Ignore!

I asked MW in hospital to show me how to feed lying down and was given a big lecture.

Started out doing the "right" thing - now DDs in bed with us and I get enough sleep to function.

In standard double with DP, have duvet but never higher than waist (and not at all at the moment - is roasting!) Sleep on a towel - good for leaky boobs and baby sick.