Hi all. I have a 7 month old who since birth has been rocked and patted to bed, bed being usually a cradle/cot then during the night when he wakes up I transfer him to my bed to sleep as I discovered this was so much easier when he was 3-4 months old. Although the system doesn't condone it! Hubby needs to sleep in other room as he has a serious job and cant zone out...so its been like this for about 3 months...

Now I have some terrible back issues and have known for a while now that I cant rock him anymore to sleep in cot. It started getting difficult, fall asleep in arms, transfer to cot, wake up screaming and wanting mum, back in arms and back asleep immediately, back in cot, screaming and on and on it went for anywhere up to an hour. I would feel exhausted and frustrated with him, which is not right. I am anti-sleep training and controlled crying so I was thinking and researching for days what I should do next....so I decided to breastfeed him to sleep in bed like I usually do, but this time just leave him in my bed. Works much better! However I have encountered some co-sleeping issues that are quite specific to my situation and cant find anything about it on the net....so, some questions for those who do co-sleep, any comments/suggestions appreciated!

1. Firstly, all info says to never leave baby alone in adult bed. However I wont be going to bed at 6.30-7 like bub does, and transferring him to cot was the initial problem, so I leave him there on his own until I go to bed. I check on him frequently. Does anyone else have this dilemma?

2. All info says no pillow or doonas. I keep the pillows away from him but have them above my head only, and pillows on the side to keep him contained (although he will be crawling soon so if I stay co-sleeping I will put mattress on floor). But the doona...we live at altitude and it gets COLD here, I need a doona. I have been putting a think sleeping bag on him and just keep my doona at his feet, but cover myself up to my shoulders. However during the night I find my sleep interrupted a lot as im constantly checking where the doona is. Anyone else with this dilemma?

3. The idea of co-sleeping which is documented everywhere, inc Pinky Mckay, is that you simply turn over, breastfeed when required whilst still semi-asleep, turn back and fall asleep. I find this quite simplistic and not my situation. Pinky suggests sleeping with the baby tucked in the crook of your elbow, but who can sleep in the one position all night? I need to roll onto my side, back, front....so DS is loose in bed. So when he needs a feed he is often away from me and above or below boob height, so I end up waking up to feed him really to get in the right position. This disrupts my sleep. Help!

4. DS constantly rolls towards me to I end up sandwiched on the side of the bed and cant stretch out, = poor sleep!

5. Since putting him into my bed on a regular basis, he has starting waking more frequently and 'demanding' to be fed, by wailing and rooting. Obviously my breast near him triggers this...I know he doesn't need a feed as I gave him one an hour earlier! So whenever he arouses he jus instantly wants a feed = irritating and poor sleep! Pinky suggests placing bub with back towards you after a feed, but what about the rollin bubs?

6. Was thinking of getting a king size bed so that hubby can maybe return to me! But I am so unsure about the co-sleeping arrangement at the moment and don't want to invest in this til im sure....

7. Other than rocking and patting and co-sleeping, the only other option really is to sleep train or do controlled crying, which I wont do.....any suggestions about any of these points would be appreciated! I actually woke up this morn after a poor sleep and about 4 feeds feeling unhappy and annoyed at my boy, and not wanting to engage with him in bed I have never felt this in the 7 months he has been around...so I became extra annoyed that I felt this way because he truly is the miracle apple of my eye. Aaah, poor sleep...its a bugger!

many thanks, B.