BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

I've heard a lot about co-sleeping with your baby, especially from proponents within the La Leche League. But I'd love to hear from women who have actually done it.

Did it feel like the right thing to do from the beginning, or did someone encourage you to do it?

If you had concerns about suffocation, how did you overcome them?

Also if you breastfed, did you find that it helped? If so, how?

Thanks in advance for sharing!

BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

I do and I did cosleep from the very beginning. It was very natural, and though DD did not latch, but I EPed for her for 15 months. I usually do not sleep with a pillow, so that was not an issue. DH moved his pillow and away from her. She slept closer to me, so I would sleep below her.. i.e. my head would be near her tummy, so the comforter would be nowhere near her. I was able to check up on her, and every time she moved or stirred, she was catered to right away. It may not be for everyone but for us it worked out great.

ETA: many nights, DD fell asleep in my arms, and her head nestled on my chest. Even though at that point, I felt slept lightly and could have used more sleep, it was amazing.

Message edited 1/28/2014 1:00:56 PM.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

I have 3 children and coslept fully or partially with all 3 and have not a single regret.

With my first, it started in the hospital. I fell asleep nursing him and FREAKED out because I was still holding him. The nurse came in and reassured me and told me it was the most natural thing in the world. It FELT natural. It felt safe. It felt right. I tried having the baby sleep in the crib at home, but he wasn't having it. I brought him into bed and developed a whole system that felt comfortable and safe and coslept by holding him in my arms until he was 6 months old. I used my pregnancy pillow to support my arms and I kept the blanket over my legs and under the pregnancy pillow so there was no way it could go up onto the baby. It helped tremendously with breastfeeding because I could just move my top and nurse and we'd both fall back asleep. My husband was never woken during the night ever. I got sleep. Baby got sleep. We were all very happy! Repeated the same pretty much with babies 2 & 3 and plan to do the same with #4.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

I also want to say that before I had my first baby (even while pregnant!) I thought cosleeping was the craziest thing I had ever heard of and was sure that I would never do it. It was unsafe, baby could suffocate, you could roll onto baby. Babies are meant to sleep in cribs! That all changed the moment I held my little one in my arms and we both slept peacefully.

My pediatrician has said that it's more unnatural for babies to be in a separate room (not in a judgmental way, but historically speaking) than to cosleep.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

Message edited 1/28/2014 1:13:56 PM.

BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

Co sleeping/bedsharing also became accidental for us. I sat down with her waiting for a bottle to warm and we woke up in the morning. That was when i realized she didnt need a MOTN bottle.

Message edited 1/28/2014 1:17:43 PM.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

I never intended to co-sleep. When DS1 came home from the hospital, he couldn't be put down without screaming. He spent a few days in the NICU and between the sleep deprivation and guilt, I ended up holding him in my arms. One night turned into the next and holding him in our arms was the only way we got any sleep. We tried everything except CIO to get him in the crib at 3.5 months, but by night 6, he was up every 10-20 minutes all night long. We ended up co-sleeping for a long time. We didn't have any issues once we converted the crib to a full bed.

We didn't co-sleep much with DS2 at the beginning, but he ended up sleeping in his swing for a long time. By 1, he ended up in our bed. He was sick and teething a lot during that time. It was easier to keep him in our bed. Part of me likes when he snuggles up next to me and the other part looks forward to transitioning him to his own bed.

I EBF both boys. Co-sleeping made it easier to feed them in the middle of the night although DS2 started STTN at 10 weeks. DS1 didn't STTN until 7 months.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

I didn't expect that DD would co-sleep with us, but it just happened like others have said. At first, she would fall asleep on my chest. Now, she sleeps on my side. It's great for breastfeeding. I keep my arm around her as I sleep.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences. I really appreciate it!

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

With my first, I was up all night trying to get her to sleep, then laying her in the bassinet just to have her wake up 20 min later and start the process all over again. I was a walking ball of sleep deprived stress that first month. Then, I rebelled against all the docs and literature and I brought her into bed with me to after DH got up for work. That became habit and we had our best stretch of sleep from 6-11am. We continued to try crib at night and eventually she slept in it longer and we just brought her in the early morning until about when she stopped nursing at 7 months.

With my second, after falling into the no sleep all night pattern for half the first night home, I gave up and brought him into our bed. He slept like a dream. I nursed laying on my side whenever he needed it. He was so good, he pretty much only got up once a night for the first weeks and was sleeping through by 3 months. I never complained of sleep deprivation but it was a different sleep. I was more aware that he was there. I usually slept on my side with one arm up over the pillow and him close to my breast. At about 7 months, he decided he needed space. He tossed and turned one night trying to get comfy and I laid him in his crib and he's been there ever since.

Now my third, I wasted no time and she came into bed with us right away. Same pattern as my son but she wasn't ready for her own crib until 9 months and it was the same thing, restless when trying to go to sleep until we laid her in her own bed. It's been almost a month with her sleeping in her own crib, so far so good. I have to say that when DD was 5 months old she was diagnosed with reflux. She had three spit up episodes prior to diagnosis where she was choking on her spit up laying on her back and I woke at that instant and put her upright each time. I shudder to think what might've happened if I wasn't right there.

Co sleeping feels so natural to me. I regret that I didn't see it as an option right away with my first. I feel like I missed out on an important bonding period with her. It even feels natural to DH, he says he has an awareness when they are in bed with us.

Re: BTDT Moms: Please share your co-sleeping experience.

I coslept with my DS from day 1 and it really helped on so many levels. I didn't bond with the baby right away and am a light sleeper so would not have been able to function w/o being able to sleep through the night.

Also, given that I had a c-section and wanted to breastfed anyway, it seemed natural just to have him next to me throughout the night.

DH was grateful as well because the alternative was he would have to wake up and bring the baby to me periodically during the weeks it took me to recover. The entire experience was very positive except for the occasional judgemental looks/warnings I get from the in-laws when they found out.

I'm having my 2nd in 2 months and would do the same again.