Baby co-sleeping with parents?

Question

hi,

i was just wondering how many parents sleep with baby in their bed?

what were your experiences? did you find that your baby slept better and for longer periods at night? also, when is it best to discontinue co-sleeping ?

Answer 1

My son sleeps in his own crib until about 7am when he comes into our bed and either sleeps in between me and his dad or I make sure there is a Gaurd rail up.He sleeps much better/longer and will sleep in untill 10;00 usually!! You need to be careful that the baby doesnt get covered in a your covers b.c they could smother but i really dont think anyone would roll on their baby.. like u can feel them next to u, just like u dont roll on ur hubby :P

My son is 7mths old right now and i want to get him over that before a year..  

Answer 2

We co-slept with both of our kids and will do so with the 3rd as well. We all got more sleep! Hubby, baby and me. My daughter stayed with us till 18 mos. Then she was into her own room. She was not thrilled about it all. I had to wean her shortly after she got happy about being in her own room, because my b*****s were very sore from the new pregnancy. I moved her only because I wanted to get pregnant. I think her presence was preventing me from ovulating. I got pregnant with my son the very next month. He slept with us from day one to 2yrs ish. Then since our reno's weren't done on the house he slept in our room but on a toddler bed. He had stopped nursing at night way before that, maybe 15 mos? He only nursed to go to sleep. At 3 he was in his own space and only came once in the night a few weeks later to say he missed the snoring..lol Neither of my children given me much grief about going to bed, we don't have to lay with them to get them to sleep either. They know nighttime is not a big deal, just part of the day. I am a firm believer in meeting your child's needs. Only your child can show you that. It may be that your child needs his or her own space at 1 month or 1 yr. If you follow their cues you will be fine. =) My daughter needed more stories and cuddle time before bed because she missed out on some of it when I moved her out of the room and weaned her. They both love to talk about their days before bed and very rarely get up after we have left them. I never have to chase them back to bed, even for the school yr when bedtime is at 7:30pm.

Both of them are now so excited with the new baby coming and they are glad the baby will sleep with us. I asked my oldest why and she said because I know they will be safe with you mom. My son said the baby won't get cold or hungry..lol They know how it feels I guess.

Back in those days we only had a queen size bed..now we have a king, there is plenty of room for us and a baby. Also it really didn't affect our s*x life either. I think it was because I was actually not exhausted all the time. Things were low-key, baby nap times often turned into nap time for mom too. I was a happier mom.

My husband would say it was nice because all we needed was right in the room. He never had to get up to go to the nursery and change the baby or run downstairs to get a bottle warmed up. He would change baby if needed and go right back to sleep while I latched baby on and went back to sleep. There were no major conversations to really wake us up. I think babies learn night is for quiet and sleeping.

All in all it was a great experience for us and our kids. I can't wait to do it again with the new baby. I suspect weekend mornings the kids will come hang out in bed for a few minutes, and they usually have food...lol they might bring me some fruit or something!

Answer 3

the best time to discontinue co-sleeping is to never start. my babies started sleeping in their crib the day they came home. it was very hard not to put them in bed with me, im a single mom of 3 and wanted them with me. but i knew it was for the best in the long run. once they get use to sleeping with you its very hard to break them of that. so just have them start in crib and it will make things easier for you. especially when it comes time to go from crib to toddler bed. just dont start co-sleeping.

Answer 4

I never co-slept. It's a very dangerous habit. My son has always slept in his crib he's not dependant on me to go to sleep.  The more you co-sleep the more dependant on you the child becomes when it's time to sleep.

Nanny 911 always ends any co-sleeping the parents do because it's just not safe and it's more for the parents than the children.

Answer 5

The American Academy of Pediatrics neither endorses nor condemns co-sleeping.  I did not co-sleep with my first two children, but my 12 week old sleeps with me after his night time feed (usually because we both fall asleep and by the time we wake back up it's time for the morning feed).  I'm a REALLY light sleeper and feel comfortable doing this.  I will stop doing this once he stops his night time feed OR when I switch to formula.

Answer 6

I regularly co-sleep with our little man after his 3.30am feed (he's only 5 weeks) and yes he sleeps far better that way  - though I don't! lol

I'm not sure when I will discontinue this but I'm not worried about it because he settles fine in his crib both daytimes and in the night.  

Answer 7

I personally do not think anything is wrong with your baby sleeping with you from the day that I had my son he slept with me including in the hospital.  However I do wish that I would have weened him off of that because now he is almost 4 and he stilll sleeps with me and its difficult to get him to go to bed at night on his own.  I am currently prego with a girl due in December and I willl stilll bond with her but not in the same bed.

Answer 8

I co-sleep part time. It makes life easier. When baby is hungry they can latch on. Baby feels more secure so baby tends to sleep longer. They wake up, see mom's face, and go back to sleep.

Your child will stop co-sleeping on their own. Usually the time they would have a toddler bed is a good time to start weaning them. Having their own big bed is exciting.

I co-sleep part time. Alyssa spends the first half of the night in her crib, and when/if she wakes up in the middle of the night she comes to my bed for the rest of the night. It lets us both get more sleep and we both like the closeness.

Answer 9

I have been happily co-sleeping with my son for 7+ months now.  I BF so having him right there, especially in the early months, was so convenient.  Mothers have very good instincts and unless you do drugs or are extremely overweight, you will not roll over and suffocate your baby, no matter what anti co-sleepers would have you believe.  I don't know if my son would sleep "better" if he were in his crib, but I can say I have been fully rested for months and so has he.  He still wakes up during the night to eat, but since I am right there with him I barely have to wake up and really don't have much recollection of waking come morning.  

Answer 10

We have co-slept with our 15 month from birth. It was intended before her birth, but it just felt so natural and is very conducive to breastfeeding, so it just worked out. We dont regret a single thing, we love having her in bed with us, waking up to her cheeky little face, and knowing that she feels secure in her rest.

She has no issues with going to bed, as it is not a traumatic thing for her, never has been.

She will move into her own room when she is ready, and we will certainly co-sleep with future children.

Remember, the world over, co-sleeping is the 'norm'- it is only in the west where it is considered 'taboo'. Sleeping with our infants, and keeping them close is natural, instinctual and keeps everyone happy :)

Answer 11

co-sleeping can be perfectly safe - my doctor told me to think about it this way - while you were pregnant, did you often wake up because you had tried to roll onto your bump? If yes, then don't co-sleep, but if not, then it's because even in your sleep, you knew that the bump was there and not to roll onto it - the same way you will if baby is in bed too. There are very very few women who sleep so heavily they will roll over.

I had my daughter in our bed reasonably often when she was little. She started the night in her cot, then came in with us after her 2am(ish) feed. I found she slept really well then. When she reached about 3 months old, I worried that she might get too comfortable with it, and decided that we didn't want it to be a long-term thing, so we started putting her back into her own cot, also thinking that she may sleep through the night when she realised that getting up didn't also mean getting into mummy and daddy's bed as well as a feed. The first night was tricky as she wanted to come in with us, but the second night was easy. She was sleeping through the night about a week later.

Everyone will have different experiences with this and no two babies will react the same way, but that's my personal experience of it, if it helps!

Answer 12

My husband wanted to let our baby sleep with us when she was a newborn and I was insistent that she sleep in her own bed.  We all actually slept better when we moved her into her full sized crib in her room instead of the bassinet by our bed b/c we didn't all wake up at every move.  My mother let me sleep in her bed when I was a child and I did until I was 11 years old.  It is so much better to just start them out in their own bed than to have to break that habit.  I am 34weeks pregnant with our 2nd child and she will be sleeping in her bed, no exceptions.  There are plenty of opportunities for loving and snuggling during waking hours.

Answer 13

I had a crib for my daughter, but she always prefffered to sleep with me. She is 4 and has a bed of her own, but still likes to come and lay with me. I put her to bed before I go to bed and will wke up to her in my bed. I don't make an issue of it because I'm a single mom.

Answer 14

when my son was a newborn it was easier to breast feed him by him sleeping with us. we had a california king bed so there was more than enough space for all of us. now he is 5 months and sleeps just fine in a crib.

Answer 15

You could get a very wide range of answers to this question.  We have almost always slept with our son, who is 11 months.  When he was an infant, he has a welled pillow (think the contoured pillows that are raised on each side to support your neck) to keep him raised off the mattress a bit to help us learn to be aware of him.  Then when we were comfortable with the arrangement, he just slept between mom and dad.  Now that he is bigger we use a sidecar arrangement where his crib is against the wall, one rail removed with our bed against the opening.  This way, we can snuggle down to fall asleep, then he rolls into his own space.  Co-sleeping is the easiest way to keep peace of mind (I can't imagine getting up to go check on him when I can just put my hand out and feel he is fine) and continue breast feeding.  We have had maybe 3 sleepless nights his whole life, which were attributed to sickness or teething.  I feel that we are better parents beacuse we are well rested.  My husband enjoys being able to come home from work late (he is a chef and often works closing shifts) and be close to his son without disturbing sleep patterns.  I don't know that he sleeps for longer periods, but because we are all right there, the wakings are hardly a disturbance.  We don't have a specific plan on discontinueing our practice, so I can't help you there.  I do know he is already very used to having his own space to move (we were on vacation and shared a king size compared to the crib and full size at home and he did not like having to stay in the middle!) so I am comfortable with letting things continue as long as he seems to need it.  They won't go off to college not knowing how to go to bed on their own, so enjoy the cuddles now!

Answer 16

My daughter slept with me until she was 7yrs.  She is 33 now and hardly calls.  ENJOY

Answer 17

DD coslept full time with me until 6 weeks. Then we did partial cosleeping, where she started the night in her crib and came in with us after the first wake up. We went to full cosleeping again for a while when she was about 7 months as she was a terrible sleeper. She is now 13 months, and has just started sleeping the whole night in her cot. I have loved every bit of cosleeping, it was really easy to breastfeed without waking up and DD slept a lot better. I think it's best to stop cosleeping when you and your child are ready. And it can be perfectly safe as long as you don't use heavy quilts or blankets, and ensure baby can't fall out. HTH!

Answer 18

Many babies have suffocated sleeping with their parents and it definitely isn't recommended by the medical profession.