Monday, July 15, 2013

Co-Sleeping With Your Baby

Co-sleeping is the practice of having your infant  or young child sleep with you instead of on their own room.  It has become quite a common practice.

I did not co-sleep with my first two sons. They were great little sleepers. I did, however, keep both babies in my room until they were a few months old and then made the transition to the nursery. 

When I brought my third son home things were very different. 

I had two very young boys and sleep was getting to be non existent, so I brought the new baby into my bed so I wouldn't have to keep rising all night.    This worked great and he slept through the night at three weeks old.  Everyone was sleeping nicely.

Jump a few years, and here I was coming home with my baby girl!  The joy bubble busted when she decided she would sleep maximum an hour at a time.  I was exhausted, daddy was exhausted, the whole house was being disrupted.  So once again I felt that co-sleeping would do the trick.  Well, she still woke a lot more than the boys ever did.  How does a tiny little thing like that take up so much bed space.  Daddy moved into the spare room.  Kaylie is now four years old and she still wants to co-sleep!  She gets up at night and sneaks back into bed, and that's if I can even get her into her own bed.  We have tried everything, she hates her own bedroom, and it's decorated like a princess room to entice her.  I can tuck her into my bed, no problem, off to sleep.  If I start with her in her own room, I could possibly lay there until 11 p.m. and she'd still be talking away.  No sleep in sight, so I cave and bring her back in.  By chance she does fall asleep in her own room, I can almost guarantee she will wake up and land in my bed during the night.  Do I leave her in my bed so we all get a good nights sleep?  Do I be firm and make her stay in her own bed?  So here you have two different children, same mommy, same sleep practice for both babies and different outcomes.

There are benefits of co-sleeping such as bonding with the child, preventing SIDS and more rest for mom.  The down side is if not done properly it can be dangerous for the baby, you may never get the child to sleep alone (hence the blog) and you many not get any sleep anyways.  

I would be interested to know what your thoughts are on co-sleeping.  Have you tried and had good results?  Are you against co-sleeping? 

2 comments:

Genesis said...

We always had our babies in the room with us until they were about a year old. The first two didn't sleep with us, but with my third, I took him to bed with me for the first three months or so. After that, I started putting him down in his crib and he would move to my bed for the 4 am feeding. Now he's 17 months old and he sleeps in his crib 95% of the time. No tips for adjustment, I think it's something that depends on the kid.

Everyday Chic said...

Thanks for stopping by! You are right, I think had I started putting my daughter into her own crib sooner it would have been easier on all of us. Thanks!