If I had it to do all over again
Howie is still in our bed. I'll clarify for the benefit of the eyebrows that have been raised. Yes, our bed, not just bedroom. We never intended to co-sleep. We brought him home from the hospital at 8 days old after a horrific first week. We were exhausted but just couldn't bring ourselves to put him in his bassinet for that first nap. It was a slippery slide from there, despite warnings and advice from friends and family.We tried to leave him in his bed at night for the next couple weeks, but he was in our bed pretty much full time by Christmas. By the time we moved in March, we didn't even bother to set it up. A friend gave us a crib later that spring which we set up when he started rolling. We left one side off and bungy corded the legs to our bed in a sidecar fashion. He never slept in it, but it did provide a buffer so no one fell out. We left it like that all summer until we painted the bedroom in September. Then we left it fully assembled in the corner until February. It held toys, extra pillows, Howie (wide awake) a few times when I needed a shower and most often laundry that needed to be put away. We took it down just before I started my job. We toyed with weaning and moving him out of our bed all at once. We decided that me being gone 40 hours a week through training was enough of an adjustment, and in our bed he stayed.
So, if I could go back 16 months, would I let him sleep in our bed? Abso-freaking-lutley. I've been spending part of the night on the couch the last few nights. I've been coughing a lot and I don't want to disturb Howie. Well, Matt either, but I know he can go back to sleep on his own. It's so stinking painful to have to roll out of bed, run down the hall, stay awake while he's eating and shuffle back to a cold bed. I can't imagine doing it several times a night through the exhausting first months. Nope, roll over and both drift back to sleep while he nurses is definitely my preferred method. Not to mention that he's pretty sweet to wake up to. As long as he's still nursing, I think he'll be in our bed.
posted by Valarie @ 11:58 AM
1 Comments:
It is definitely easier on you to have a baby in the bed to nurse. When my first child was born in 2002, I tried staying up to nurse, and it wore me out. I finally learned the joy of cosleeping and nursing a child--almost without waking.
I am cosleeping with my second now.
Amazingly, my first transitioned to a big bed without a problem. I did cosleep with him for a while in his big bed, but eventually I was able to leave him for the last part of the night until he could sleep there by himself through the whole night. That was around age 2 1/2.
Post a Comment
<< Home