Hellobee Boards

I do it to survive. I have a reflux baby who nurses a LOT and wants to be right next to me. Co-bedding buys me extra sleep at night, and gives DS comfort. I learned to sleep with a blanket only to my waist, and my pillow safely out of DS's way. I have a super comfy sleep cardigan I found at Target that I wear to make up for covers on my top half. I said I'd never do it, but hey - it works for us!

A friend co-slept with her two children until they were 3ish, so I was interested in it during pregnancy. We had a bassinet in our room when we brought him home & my husband was actually the one who wasn't comfortable not being able to see/touch him from the bed. So we got an Arms Reach sleeper when he was 4 or 5 days old. From there he slowly moved into the actual bed. Now he's too big for the Arms Reach and just sleeps with us.
It works for our family - he sleeps, we get more sleep, breastfeeding is easier for me. Some nights, when he's fussy, it's hard, but I know that he'd just be fussy in his crib & try not to be too bitter about the arm in my face at 2 am

Baby wanted to nurse all the time. Mama wanted to sleep. Done. After a few months I got utterly sick of having her in my bed, and we moved her to her nursery. Then we night weaned at 13 months, and wakeups became daddy's job. He chooses just to tuck in with her and spend part/the rest of the night with her when she wakes up. His choice - it works for us. I dislike sleeping apart from him those nights, but sleep is the most important thing for now.

I got tired of getting up to nurse DS1 so at about 8 weeks old I put him in bed with us and knew it was the right thing to do. So with DS2 he came straight to bed with us. I love cobedding.

I did it when dd started to wake up multiple times at night and it was hard getting up and picking her up and a poster here said. Should try cosleeping and it really helped. Like mrs. Tricycle said its about survival. It's not for everyone but it saved us

She sleeps better with me. We always put her down in her crib first but usually around 3 am she comes into bed with us. She's super snugly and I love it (but I definitely wish I had a king size bed!)

I quickly realized that physically getting up every 2 hours and having to stay awake was going to wreck me (and nursing makes me soooo sleepy for some reason). He also slept better if he was snuggled close. And I hated waking up to a baby's wails in the middle of the night.

Once we started co-bedding I didn't have to really wake up to nurse, didn't have to remain awake, we both slept better and was able to respond to him/become aware of him before he started crying.

I never planned to, it just happened at the 4 month regression. It was the only way for me to get sleep and function at work! We started side-lying nursing then too! It is way easier for me!

@Foodnerd81: we started co-bedding/nursing in the side lying position after 4 months when dd started waking up more and more ... Before that I was fine getting up and wasn't as motivated to try side lying. My cousin has been nursing on her side since her lo was 3 days old though!

@Foodnerd81: The side-lying nursing only got easy-ish in the last few days. Occasionally, he would get a bad latch that I just could not correct and I'd suffer in the name of being horizontal. (Big mistake for me. My nips suffered the consequences.) I'm sure the improvement was simply a matter of E just getting bigger.

I planned on it from the beginning. DH and I researched and talked about it a lot before DD was born and came to the joint decision that it was the best plan for our family.

We are savoring our bonding time and snuggles. We have no "experation date" in mind, we'll keep co-bedding as long as it works for our family.

I love how easy it makes breastfeeding (I barely woke up for feelings in those first weeks), and I love the fact that my LO has been sleeping from 10-10 most nights almost since she was born.

It works for us, and I don't see any reason to change anytime soon!

P.S. Big bonus? Co-sleeping women are more likely to have their periods stay away longer. DD's been STTN for awhile now, but since we're still so physically close at all times, still no AF for me. Yay!

I did it at first because I was worried about him in his crib by himself and then we put him in a bassinette in our room and would put him into bed with us. well both my hubby and I fell in love with him sleeping in bed with us. I LOVE cosleeping, sadly my lo grew out of it at 8 months and thought bedtime was play time.

I agree with most that it was a matter of survival. I had to co-bed with DS pretty much since day 3. I literally fell aslee
With him in my arms and that was the only slept I got in that first 3 days. He would just nurse, nurse, nurse. Once he fell
Asleep, I laid him in bed walked out of the room
And he would just pop right up. I wish I didn't have to. I don't know how we will wean him out of our bed

We didn't start co-bedding until DS was around 5 months old after his sleep suddenly got terrible after 4 months. It was the only way for anyone to get any sleep! It took about a week to adjust having to lay on one side for most of the night, but now I'm used to it. I have a bed rail on my side of the bed. I just roll him back and forth over me through out the night to nurse. I actually really enjoy it now and since I'm working full time, I feel like I get to spend extra time with him. Both DH and I really love having him in our bed and I don't see us stopping anytime soon.

@Arden: still no AF for me and I'm almost 10 months pp!

I did not plan to but it just happened. DS has reflux and sleeping elevated on boppy was only thing that helped those first couple of weeks. It was so much easier to keep an eye on him in bed rather than walking to his crib. I love waking up next to him and all the snuggles My DH though would like to put lo in crib as he likes to spread on bed. I think soon we would have to do that as getting a bigger bed for us is not likely.

unplanned-survival

We were planning on cosleeping, but not cobedding. We have an Arms Reach cosleeper, which he will sleep pretty well in. When he's really fussy though, he loves to sleep in between DH and I. It's definitely a survival thing, because I never thought I'd let him do that - even occasionally. We have a king bed though, and there is a ton of space between DH and I, so I feel like its safe enough (especially since he can't roll yet).

Just wondering what the set up in bed looks like for co-bedding. Do you all have king size beds? Where is LO? Do you not use covers? Do you sleep on side or on back with LO on you?