Co-sleeping advice needed!

[BotchedTabby]

1. Yes we leave ds alone in the bed. We check regularly but he has always been fine. We use a double bed safety rail now he is rolling & crawling but had no problems.

2. Push all bedding away from bub when you aren't there. When in bed I used to wrap the sheets and doona around me (so tuck them underneath me). Now ds is older we share bedding.

3. It takes practise. But bub on one side of the bed and sleep yourself in the middle. I find most nights I will stay in the same position all night. Not always that comfortable!

4. Put ds on one side of the bed (as far as possible).

5. I think you both just need time to get used to the new arrangement. You can try alternating feeding and back rubbing/patting if you like.

6. We also want a kind sized bed. We have a queen and most nights dh is in the spare bed or couch (he also sleep walks there).

7. Don't do anything that doesn't feel right to you. I don't think sleep training is a fail safe method to ensure sleep. It doesn't take much for bub to "regress". I find ds will sleep well for a while then he will sleep poorly for a while. Usually because of teething, developmental milestones or sickness. It is very slowly improving though and recently (baring sickness teething etc) ds has started showing signs of actually self settling all on his own, no sleep training required). Ie. I hear him wake up, check him and he has rolled over and gone back to sleep. He still wakes overnight, still needs feeding to sleep, still wants to sleep on top of me, but we are getting there. ds is 15mo.

[HotI]

Just an idea - have you thought of having a mattress on the floor for baby? You can feed him to sleep, then leave him there and you might get a few hours solo sleep before baby joins you, or you feed to sleep again on his mattress.

1. Yep, i left my kids on the bed. There was a bit of a tricky time as they got more mobile, and then i taught them how to get off the bed safely, but my little one now largely calls out and waits for one of us to come if she wakes.

2. We use a doona. gap between the pillows and bub generally goes up higher than us (when not feeding)

3. i always wake to feed.

5. i often roll away from bub. i also wear clothes to bed so boobs aren't out there.

6. i have a queen bed, and often 3 children and my partner sharing it. Would love a king, but it is still doable with a queen