BellaOnline Forums Family Attachment Parenting Co-Sleeping

Do you co-sleep? single choice
	Always
	Often
	Occasionally
	Never
Votes accepted starting: 01/06/06 11:06 PM
View Results

I love co-sleeping and have been doing it since DS was born 3 months ago. Since all I have to do is latch DS on a breast when he wakes up, I get quite a bit of sleep each night and usually wake up well rested. Plus I get to cuddle this sweet thing all night long and listen to his breathing and inhale his smell. It's one of the most blissful parts of life with my DS.

Me too, a few years later.

I also let my daughter co sleep... my husband gives me slack.. but oh well...he works nights..

I have to agree with hemyola. I didn't appreciate it enough at the time, what with work, exhaustion, etc., but now I know it was one of the best things we did in raising our son. I know I will never enjoy that same physical or spiritual closeness with another human again, nor indeed, will the three of us: husband, child, and me. I'm so glad that we did have a family bed, even though at the time I wished there were times we could convince the tyke to spend a little quality time in the crib. (He was having none of that!)
I think that those night-time hours made up for an awful lot of what I couldn't be there for in the day, and he's a very sweet and thoughtful teenager (and not a nerd either!) who still likes to hear about how he did thus and such when he was little.

Both of my kids are different. My son would sleep with us some. He loves to be close to us even now at 4. But my 2 yr old daughter wants no part of sleeping with anyone. She wants to be in her bed and by herself. She cries and says bed if I put her in my bed to get her to go to sleep. But she is more attached to her pillow and blanket than my son is.

While I was nursing we did co-sleeping, but we had one of those "bassinets" that the side attaches to our bed, so that if I was really exhausted, I could put Seth in the bassinet, and he'd still be right beside me. But I wouldn't have the fear of rolling over on him. (I was always terrified of that - I had nightmares all the time with my first child, and even woke up screaming one timen thining I had! Woke up my husband and the baby. <img src="/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> )

Daytime naps I would always lie down with Seth, he and I both slept more peacefully.

Now that he is 3, he is starting to want to climb back into bed with us again - I'm not entirely sure why, except that our family has been going through a tough time with our oldest son - and maybe Seth is picking up on that stress. We would like him to sleep in his own bed, mainly because he is such an active sleeper. He's all over the place! I usually wind up kicked in the face several times - not very restful for us - but if I can get him hooked with my arm and get him to snuggle up to me - he'll settle down, and i don't mind so much then.

What can I say - he's my last baby, and i hate giving these moments up. I know they won't last forever. <img src="/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Yes, Mary Ellen, it took me time and some education too. A friend gave me the tapes/Cds Babies and Toddlers, to Tame or to Trust and that was the greatest shift in my ability to enjoy rather than resist. The author's book, Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves, is a must read for every parent.
It gave me so much heart and skill. My children behave well because they want to, not because I tell them. That is what the book gave me, and, I agree that co-sleeping helps with inner peace and self-confidence.