The physical PAIN of co-sleeping...

[Tuesday's Child]

I'm glad others experience this. I thought I was doing it wrong. When DD was little, DH would sleep in the spare room to give us more room. If he was in with us it was because DD was having reflux/wind issues and was sleeping on his chest. It got better once DD was able to roll over and sit up from lying down.

I've found that having my arm up under my pillow and head is much more comfortable. I lie on my side and rest my head on the inside of my arm, rather than on top of my shoulder, and then adjust the pillow to better my neck and keep my head off of my shoulder (sorry not sure how to really describe it this early in the morning). It doesn't require rotating my shoulder as far and doesn't interfere with blood flow. It also allows a little more freedom of movement. I also have upper back and neck issues but they are no worse than usual while sleeping like this.

[beckoes]

Yep, i jumped in bed with DD at 5am this morning andsleptin there till 6.30am and woke up in agony....i am 39 weeks pregnant but idoalways wake up with a crick in my neck and pain in my legs....DD on the other hand has a lovely sleep!

[tinkerbelle]

I kind of do the same thing as Tuesday's child..with my hand resting under my head and my pillow propped a little to support my head.. except I also put a small pillow behind my back so am lying half on my back/half on my side, and then a pillow between my knees too.. its quite comfy actually.

[Catastrophic]

I too used to put dd on my chest to sleep, and then as she got older I used to wriggle down so my head was in line with hers and we were both under the covers (ie the covers wouldn't go over her face because they would then be over mind too). I had to ditch the pillow though, which was annoying, but even that has made a comeback in recent times as dd now prefers a pillow. I will bump this thread when I have my own newbie and I am mumma rotisserie...rolling from one child to the other!

Both DDs slept on my chest to, then moved to the arms as they got bigger.

[MummyNaomi]

DS is a restless sleeper in the mornings and when we pop him in with us he will roll around and somehow get his feet in my face and pull my hair because he holds on to it with his scrunched up toes I sometimes put up with this for up to an hour because I am simply too tired to get out of bed - LMAO

When we were co-sleeping all or most of the night though, it was great as we all liked our own little patch of (king size) bed. As a newborn though, I would often sleep with him curled up on my belly and chest - he and I would sleep so soundly

I need another newborn to snuggle with

[sunshine_sieben]

Oh man, I'm jealous. DH would be ropable if I woke him up just to move DS...

[Ginger]

i'm getting a King Size bed for this exact problem!

[meow]

Nope. I wrap baby and place him high in the bed between our pillows (which we move to the outside edges) then I sleep like normal. I couldn't sleep in painful positions without moving. It would kill me. When he wakes I unwrap him, feed sitting up then re-wrap and put him back down. Means I don't get to feed while sleeping but he feeds so quickly it works better for me as it means I can sleep comfortably but still have him close by.

[sunshine_sieben]

That would have never worked for me as DD always fed to sleep and then even the slightest bump woke her up. If she then realised I was not right there, she'd scream bloody murder. So I would feed to sleep, then try and crawl away.
The only way DD would sleep without immediate contact with me was when she could sleep on her belly. I was not comfortable enough to let her do that when she was a newborn, hence why she slept on my chest.
Those snuggle beds also wouldn't have worked for us.
She HATED to be wrapped from about 2 weeks onwards.

[Melody7]

WOW! I never thought this topic would get so many responses... Nice to hear I'm not alone, but I'm also sorry that the joy of co-sleeping seems to be marred by the pain of it for so many of us... Some good ideas though. For my firstborn I used a hammock for some of the night, but haven't tried that this time round. DD is different, and I think she'd wake more being in the hammock.
We have a KS bed too and I try and roll DD over before each feed to swap sides. ATM she doesn't seem to be waking much to feed so I'm going to try and make the conscious effort to move my arm from around her and move my head down to her level.

How do they do this in countries where co-sleeping is the norm!?