How to co-sleep

Ok, I have a lot of questions but I'm so tired I don't know if I can formulate them coherently!
Our DD's sleep has gone downhill steadily from 4 months. Before that she slept through and self-settled from 2 months. She's 10 months now. She wakes at different times during the night, could start at 10pm one night, and 1.30am the next night. That was ok until she started not being able to go back to sleep. Sometimes she's upset about it, and other times she is just awake and wants to play! I stay in her room once I've got up to her and sleep on the lounge there so we don't disturb DP too much (he can't just turn up to work and get paid even if he can't think straight, our livelihood depends on him being compis mentis). So, I started putting her on the lounge next to me to sleep - this is very uncomfortable for me as my arse ends up hanging off the edge of the lounge and my legs cramp up! She sleeps ok, but I don't, ha ha.
I don't really want to make a habit of it, but for times when we're desperate for sleep, how do we co-sleep in the bed? Does she sleep in the middle between us? What about her slipping underneath the doona?

She is also getting harder to settle during the day when that was never really a problem. For example, she refused her afternoon sleep today when she seemed tired, and has now gone down really late because she was overtired. Now she probably won't go bed un til late in the evening and I'll be paying for it all night:(

Also, what do people find are the benefits of a sleeping bag? I bought a Grobag on sale but it just seems to swim on her. She can't sink into it but it just seems really long - I imagine her getting tangled up in it.

I can't think of what else to ask. I've read "sleeping Like a Baby" and like it mainly because I then felt I wasn't doing anything wrong by feeding her to sleep when she wakes up during the night (& that doesn't work anymore), but I'm getting a bit desperate as I'm battling yet another chest infection and trying to function on 3 or 4 hours broken sleep. I don't want to do CC as I'm not convinced of 'no harm'.

Any suggestions?

Sorry, this has been long and rambling, I hope you can make sense of it.

Hi Suzi
Our son sleeps in the middle of us. He uses our doona but I know some people put the bub on top of their doona and give them their own blankets, if you think she is likely to slip underneath the doona then it would be better to do this. He sleeps on my arm and doesn't move but if he starts moving around he will be moving on top of the doona. I dress him in a singlet and wondersuit. I have sleeping bags but I find he is warm enough in our bed without it. May just check if she is warm enough if you wake up or stir. Alot of the sleep bags are meant to be really long, as long as they can't sink into it they are fine. Good luck. I hope you get some sleep soon.

Hi,
you poor thing i remember what life before co-sleeping was like. Unfortunately you have a choice to make. It is not an easy choice as many people will crticise you whichever option you choose. I will tell you our story and then it is up to you what you choose to do.

My DD is nearly one now and she has been co-sleeping from about four or five months of age. She was never a good sleeper i always had to feed her to sleep she always had to be wrapped and patted and carried etc. For a few months she slept in the pram beside our bed and a very short period in her cot beside our bed. I found that i was getting up to her numerous times overnight and spending over an hour trying to settle her into her cot and then she would wake up fourty minutes later. If she was in bed with us she slept through some nights and i didn't have to settle her as she feed whilst asleep.
I had numerous people tell me i was mad and they still do. I bought the book "Three in the bed", can't remember the authors name but it is a really good history of breastfeeding and co-sleeping and gives you lots of ammunition for the arguements you will have with your family friends etc.

When she was really little she slept wrapped and in the crook of my arm i woke if she moved so it was reassuring she slept under our blankets but i was super careful. At about six or seven months she stopped being wrapped and she slept beside me, we got rid of our doona and just use blankets. When she started crawling we got rid of our bed and now we have our mattress and a single bed mattress on the floor next to each other to give us more space. Some nights she sleeps for most of the night on the single mattress on her own and other nights she still sleeps in my arms. i am not pushing the issue in the hope that we will get more nights with her in the single bed as she gets older and eventually she will sleep in the single bed all the time.
Hope this helps

Sorry to hear that your having some sleep problems....

With co-sleeping - maddy sleeps between us, we both move our pillow as far over to the side as we can, so we create a space for her in the middle....we put her head right at the top so she would have to move a long way down to go under the doona...she sleeps the BEST with us, but we dont do it often...most morning if she wakes before 6am she comes in with us (thats normally only 5am-6am sleep i dont want to make it a habbit but 5am is to early to be awake!!!

With the gro-bag they are meant to be long so that she can move her legs and kick around...its just like a blanket that cant fall off! its great, as when she comes into our bed, we dont have to worry about blankets for her, as her gro-bag keeps her warm. Maddy is a big gro-bag fan, and sleeps great in them It might be worth a try when she is with you adn ur partner as you wont have to worry about blankets etc...

Good luck with it all, i really hope it gets easier soon.