The physical PAIN of co-sleeping...

[Melody7]

Does anyone else who co-sleeps wake up in pain?

I'm waking up every morning with super sore joins in my neck, shoulders and elbow from having my arm positioned up and around my baby (10wks) - think dingle-dangle scarecrow arms...

It's been a while since I've had a newbie in bed and I'd forgotten about this pain... I love co-sleeping, but im not waking up at all refreshed or rested. Not sure if anyone's found a way of sleeping that doesn't hurt...

[danita]

i wake up ridiculosly sore evry single day and have done since ive co slwpt with DD, my arms and joints also hurt, i do find a quick stretch in the mornings helps, i also have carpel tunnel and co sleeping hasnt helped that i too love co sleeping but oh the pain,

hopefully someone else can pop in with some tips but i know how you feel

[feeb]

Yep yep yep has been 13 months straight of co sleeping with DS2, didnt co sleep much with DS1.

I wake up in agony every day in neck and sholders. DS2 is a very restless sleeper and has to be touching me!!!

DH sleeps with head at opposite end of bed to give me some more room with DS2 but I am still sore, but not as much as I was in early days or maybe I am just used to the agony now!

Good luck

[suse]

Yup. I'm waiting until they invent detachable arms. Miss Miss likes to sleep with her face buried into my armpit (nice ), and between that, and DS joining us in the night and starting at the foot of the bed and working his way up, I'm turning into a pretzel. I've always had a dodgy neck and back, but it's at the point where I've had a headache / borderline migraine for the last couple of days. Need to see physio. Or encourage the Klingon that her cot, which is right next to the bed, is a wonderful place to hang out. Or invent detachable arms.

Other than that, I have no advice, except that a really hot shower first thing in the morning is a good depretzeliser, but lots of empathy. I'd give you one of these - - but my arms no longer work

[beansbeans!]

Yup! I wake with this pain every morning after we co-sleep. these days though DH takes the girls in the morning and gives me the time I need in bed to relax, stretch and waht not. It works some days!

[YoYo]

Yep! Still de-pretzelising now!! Love co sleeping, but get sore from staying in one posi! Sometimes I sleep on the opposite side of dd just to mix it up a little


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[boomba]

I hear you! Lying in the most awkward position cause if I move DS2 will wake up...I love the snuggles but am hanging for the day when I can sleep how I want and not having a human attached to my breast or arm :P

[Roryrory]

Wow I have never co-slept because I found even short naps to be painful - I thought I was just doing it wrong and you'd all discovered something I hadn't LOL!

[Swoop]

It's only been a few short months since we stopped co-sleeping but I had forgotten that hideous pain until this thread brought it all flooding back. The worst was when she insisted on sleeping on me and my knees would be agony the next day. These days she only sneaks in on the odd night when DH is away and I take the easy route, so we spread out and sleep in comfort.

[sunshine_sieben]

Oh, I hear you!
But, I have found that from about 2 months my bubs could sleep with their heads in the crook of my arm. Sort of using my arm as a pillow. That way, I didn't have to raise my arm into an unnatural position and found it way more comfortable. It also made it possible for me to move a little (side or back). Cause if I sleep in the same position all night, my hips ache horribly.
To mix it up, I sometimes turn DS away from me so that I'm effectively spooning him, again with his head on my arm. This way I can have him quite low. I find this very comfortable.
Another thing I do when I get achy is that I turn onto my back and let DS sleep on his belly on my chest if that makes sense. in fact, this is how I co-slept with my babies for the first month or two of their lives. Somehow I felt safer this way. I felt like I couldn't roll onto them like this.

I'm a stomach sleeper. I miss sleeping on my stomach!! Sometimes in the mornings I hand DS over to DH for a cuddle and quickly turn onto my tummy - ahhhhh, bliss!
I'm pretty lucky. DS sleeps in his bed for large parts most nights these days...

[Loula]

When DS and I co slept he always lye next to me. Not on my arm or my arm near him at all. I faced him which was not my usual sleep position so I would get a pain in the neck. Now DS is sleeping in his cot and even he is now getting better sleep from what I can tell.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Arcadia]

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!

[Netix]

Suse, that is hilarious. Depretzeliser.... lol.

Anyway, I too, had forgotten about that pain. I'm not sure there's a whole lot you can do during the night. Rhino would sleep with his head up on my shoulder and my arm would be around him. Occasionally I would wrap both arms around him if I felt like I really needed to turn over, and put him on my other shoulder, after turning over with him on my chest. I am sure I would often wake up with an entirely numb arm if I didn't roll over. Sometimes I would wriggle my fingers to get the blood moving again, but don't think I could do much else.

[sunshine_sieben]

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!

Yay, I'm not the only one to sleep like this! You have no idea how many fellow co-sleepers looked at me in confusion when I told them that I let my babies sleep ON me.
And I had a giggle at your mumma rotisserie comment.

[LimeSlice]

I suppose I was lucky - when DD1 was a newbie, DH worked a two weeks away/ one week home roster - so DD1 would sleep on her own side of the bed and I on the other... co-sleeping bliss! lol
We would feed and cuddle, then when I needed to move, I had the space to do it.

This time around, DH is on a one/one roster, but hasn't gone back to work yet, but DD2 doesn't wake as frequently overnight and settles much quicker after a night feed than DD1 did, so is only coming to our bed (from her bassinet next to our bed) at around 4.30-5am. So I only have to pretzel for 2-3 hours before her mid-morning nap... lol


You can get those sleeper things though for the bed, so they can sleep in the middle of the bed safely - also means you can be free to sleep how you like too... Doesn't help with the dream or night feeds though, so I never bothered buying one - seemed more hassle than they were worth.

[tinkerbelle]

I dont seem to get this pain, maybe its because I switch sides that bubs sleeps on at each feed.. were are still having 3-4 night time feeds so i get this opportuniy, i guess it would b different if bubs was not feeding so much at night, i also sometimes sleep him in the crook of my arm and its much more comfy,,,, dont know about 4 bubs though

[Gigi]

my solution to same thing (in my situation)

dh (at the time) slept on the couch (for years) - his sleep apoena (CPAP machine) stopped me from sleeping
so bilby and i slept on the queen sized bed together.

a full body pillow also helped me deal with the sore back thang. you get them for about $30 from kmart. looks like a human sized sausage LOL but it was brilliant to sleep with, pregnant and then with a nb.

[Just Me]

I only co-sleep for part of the night and I have a cradle for my baby in our room. I couldn't do it all night because of the pain, and I was the same as Rory and thought I was doing it all wrong. I feed my baby in our bed and sleep with him for a little while after but once I wake up a bit stiff, I wake up DH and he comes and moves DS2 into the cradle. The cradle is quite large (though not as big as a cot so it fits well in our room) and our babies have all stayed in it until they were 9 months old. I do continue to co-sleep for part of the night once they weren't in our room anymore but DH would take them back to their own cot in the middle of the night. It was the only way I could make it all work for me and have a settled bub and still get a decent night sleep.

Getting DH to move our baby, rather than moving him myself seems to be less disruptive to him than if I try and get up while he is lying on my arms. It wakes him up if I try and get up with him. It only takes DH a second to put him in bed. I kind of feel like it is the best of both worlds for us