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Co-slept out of the need for sleep and feeding every 2 hours. Now DS is in the hammock beside the bed and comes in for feeds. If he settles and sleeps quickly he goes back to the hammock but if not he stays in bed with us to sleep - usually from about 3am.
We co-slept from the time Maya was about 3 days old. We loved it and were all getting much more sleep than most not co-sleeping parents I have talked to.
In the first month or 2 she slept on her belly on my chest as I felt that was safer then her sleeping next to me. Then she started sleeping next to me, on her back or side with my arm around her.
But we have been transferring her to her cot since last weekend because she fell of the bed :redface: I do have the cot right next to the bed and I bring her into our bed early in the morning.
She slept extremely well the first 2 nights in her cot going for a 7 hour stretch!!! But the last couple of nights she's been waking herself up every hour or two because she was crawling in her sleep. When I bring her into my bed, she doesn't move in her sleep at all.
I know what you mean about them waking up if you're trying to put them down. Maya used to be the same. I only learned to put her down without waking a few days ago. I have her lying in my arms with on hand under her neck and the other holding her bottom. I then lay her in the bed on her side, the side that's away from me. That way I can easily get my hands out. I stay and jiggle her bottom for a while and she either doesn't wake up at all or goes straight back to sleep.
I also feed her to sleep with soft music playing and I leave the music on for another 15 minutes or so after i have transferred her to her bed.
Having said all of that, I don't know if any of that would have worked if I had tried it earlier or if she was just ready for it.
Rest assured, there are a lot of people who co-sleep for either part of the night or all of the night. And those kids turn out just fine.
Sasa
Never heard of the term co-sleep till now. But yes i co-sleep with DS and it works perfectly for me :)
Our DD sleeps most of the night in her own cot (recently moved to her own room), but if she wakes up for a feed after about 4am I will just leave her in our bed for the last few hours (DH gets up for work at 6am anyway). I love the snuggles - she sleeps on her back and I just move all pillows out of the way. For now I love it, and I feel its safe because she can't roll. I don't know what I'll do when she is more mobile, cause I don't want her to fall out of bed. Might re-arrange the bedroom :)
Does anyone who co-sleeps bottle feed? I can see how it would be great if I could breast feed but I am curious as to how you work a bottle feed in. Caitlyn is in her cot now and we have HUGE problems getting her to sleep and to stay asleep (sometimes waking every 2 hours - sometimes every hour!!!) and would love to do the co-sleep thing! I bring her into our bed after 5 am and wonder if it would be better if I started it earlier!
You could probably still do it. I get up during the night if I need to pee and Savannah's fine until I get back and she goes right back to sleep. I just make sure she's in the middle, no doona or anything near her and I leave the lights off. Sometimes she's asleep before I get back now as the bed smells like me and she's learning that I'm only gone temporarily.
You could probably get up and make a bottle quickly.
There was a very interesting study which was presented at the ABA Hot Milk Conference, which was a large study and showed that very very little bottlefeeders are co-sleeping... it was a great talk which went over common traits exhibited by cosleeping mothers and they all sleep the same way around their baby - arm behind their head, knees up (believe to prevent baby migrating south) and like a c-shape, very interesting!
Hi Rebecca
I bottlefeed and co-sleep (in the loosest sense of the term ie. she's in a cradle within arm's length). In your situation, I'd probably get a Phil & Ted's travel bottle (don't know the exact name) but it's a whizzy thing that keeps the formula in one section and the boiled water in another and when you're ready to feed you twist and mix. You could keep that on your bedside table and mix without getting out of bed. That would be great for one feed - not every hour though as it would still be sitting there mixed until your next one. But it would also depend on how hot your baby likes the milk - mine's not at all fussy - warm/room temperature/straight out of the fridge, she's not bothered.
My daughter rarely wakes during the night now but I find myself relishing the times when she does so I can pop her into bed with me. Am a bit too worried about her being squashed to do it all the time! And yes, a C position here too. So schnuggly!!!
When me and my partner were living together, the three of us shared a bed and Aurelia slept in the crook of my arm, between me and the edge of the bed. I don't trust that my man wouldn't roll over onto her during the night, he's a verrry heavy sleeper. Now that he's out of state for the moment, me and her have a whole queen bed all to ourselves and its bliss! Recently when I visited him, we only had a double bed and a spare single mattress on the floor, so guess who got kicked out of bed? I'll give you a hint; it wasn't the baby. Mwahahaha!
That's interesting about the sleep position. Now that me and Aurelia have a queen bed to ourselves, I just have her next to me and don't necessarily cuddle her, mostly because its so hot here now. Back when we were squashed up with my partner, I slept that way except I didn't have my arm under her head - she didn't seem comfortable.