Hi Pinky,

I am sure you know Marisa backwards but here goes with both anyway!:

Where do your babies sleep? esp - why have you chosen this option - bassinet / cot/ hammock/ colseeping

Marisa - After a flop of a two week stint at a 4-day sleep school (where I only went because I was under the impression babies were apparently supposed to be sleeping in their cots), we co-slept with Marisa, in the bed all night. We co-slept because I was exhausted trying to enforce the hospital's routines on her that clearly were not working, we were extremely stressed because our baby was clearly distressed and we had no support. All we wanted was for her to be happy (I never had a thought of myself - her happiness meant everything which is why I ended up not coping with it all!) and for all of us to get some sleep. So we did all we knew how to do, what my baby really wanted... to cuddle up to me at night. She truly was at peace with us in bed. It was just beautiful and such an incredible relief.

Elijah - He is actually a great sleeper so we put him in his cot from day 1, wrapped up tight. He'd often fall asleep in an instant while being wrapped, but now he's older and a big boy (8.5kgs now lol!), he hates being restricted. Sometimes, well I should say often, in the night when he wakes he ends up feeding in bed and we both fall asleep.

Why I chose those options? Because I wanted to follow the lead of my babies. Marisa needed the close comfort of co-sleeping, Elijah is just happy to sleep! So I will always choose what my baby prefers.

If anyone has used a hammock - why did you try this? how did you find it? How did you 'wean' baby to cot/ bed from the hammock?

Marisa - When Marisa was in the M&B Unit they seemed to be able to get her to sleep a little in the hammock. Argh I hate talking about it, it still upsets me... she was just so unhappy anywhere... I hired one when I got home, but as you know, she only ended up sleeping soundly snuggled up next to me.

If you are co-sleeping - is it bed sharing? cot next to bed? all night? part of the night?

Marisa - We all bedshared all night until she was about 2 and a bit. When we moved house to where we are now, she quite happily went off to her own bed, often sleeping all night. She still comes back when she's sick, scared or something is wrong (e.g. night frights at the moment or if thirsty), but she's always welcome in our bed - gives the best cuddles on a cold night

Elijah - Part of the night. He goes down in his cot around 7-8pm then wakes for a feed at 12am, sometimes he comes into our bed, sometimes he'll go back to sleep until 3am, then about this time he's pretty much in my bed until I wake (again, haha).

Is this your first bub or not?

1 & 2 bub

Any creative arrangements?

Hehehe do you mean, one arm and leg in, one arm and leg out, with one bum cheek covered with the corner of the doona? She's a bed hog LOL. On a night where they are both unsettled, sometimes all four of us snuggle up together - but of course I never let Marisa sleep next to Elijah.