Co-sleeping safely, advise please

[gemitygem]

Hi
Just had my 4th baby, he is 1 week old today. I am co-sleeping at mo as need as it gives me as much sleep as I can as soon will need to cope with the four of them on my own!

Midwife said it is safe as long as I turn him on his back afterwards, but he is not having any of it! He wants to be on his side right up next to my breast to sleep even when he is not sleeping.

First of all I woke at his every move, but now that the tiredness is setting in and I am getting used to co-sleeping the night goes through as a blur and I worry that he may suffercate sleeping like this.

Has anyone else had this worry??

Thank you

My first DD (now almost 4) much preferred to sleep on her side (with one hand under her head - still sleeps this way) & hated being flipped on to her back. We had a couple of weeks fighting this & then one of my health visitors said that on their sides is okay as long as they're on firm mattress so they don't get tipped on to their fronts - after all they can't roll themselves at this stage. After that we all slept a lot better. I'm not a health professional but that's what one told me - hope it helps

generally my second child, who i co-slept with from birth, would sleep in a feeding position with me lying on my side facing her, my arm arched around her body. i'd be under the cover (it'd come up to my waist so slept in long sleeved nightie) and she was in a gro-bag so there was no pillow near her and no loose covers... we had a low bed so even if she did fall off, there was no risk of injury. neither of us drink or smoke. i massively enjoyed this time with her until she became unsettled by our snoring and snorting.

I was also told that side sleeping is no more dangerous than back sleeping, it is only front sleeping which is dangerous. If he can't roll onto his front (because your body, or his arm, is in the way) it should be fine - DS always slept like this too - used to use my boob as a pillow!

Ah thanks guys, that makes me feel a little more at ease with it. My main concern is that he is going fall forward in this position and suffercate on me, but maybe I would wake up if this was to happen, well I hope I would!!

I know I may sound over anxious about this, must be my hormones settling back to some sort of normality!

you'll find you become very aware of the baby's and your own body and movements.