We Love Co-sleeping
Justin and I love Maisie cuddle time! As you may know, we have co-slept from day one with Maisie. There is a long story behind why, but I will give you the short version.
I first totally thought co-sleeping was super hippie and I would never do it. Until the first night Maisie was born and the only time she would sleep was when she was lying right next to me or nursing or both. I also had an epidural headache and it as super difficult to keep lifting her into my bed from the little plastic bed she was sleeping in. It all started there.
It continued five days later when we were at home. I loved our cuddle times and was too scared to put her in her crib for fear that she may stop breathing. When I did put her in bed, I was up every 1/2 hour to make sure she was alive. I needed to hear/feel her breath in order to get sleep myself. Plus I read that mom’s breathing stimulates baby breathing. I did read it! But maybe I just use that as an excuse to continue co-sleeping.
I am lazy and hate getting up and down out of bed to feed her. This is a bonus for breastfeeding and co-sleeping!
When we travel, a lot of times Maisie will sleep with us. Less hassle
with bringing along a pack n’ play for her to sleep in and it is also a
bit more security for her while we are somewhere unfamiliar.
Basically, I am lazy. Plus, I think Maisie really likes to sleep with us. We have had to work out a few kinks, but I feel really great about where we are at right now. Actually, I always have felt good where we are at with co-sleeping. It just continues to change to where we are at in life and we have had to be ok with change and talk about it along the way. For instance, Justin was recently a bit annoyed with how much she was sleeping with us (because she likes to stick her feet on his face and slap us as she is falling asleep). So it was time to make a change. She obviously needed more room to sprawl out, and Justin obviously didn’t want feet in his face.
So right now we are co-sleeping WAY less. We put Maisie down in her own bed and then she wakes up around 5 or 6 or 7am. That is when we get our Maisie cuddle on! And she stays in bed with us for a few hours in the morning. It is the best of both worlds.
This morning Justin stole Maisie cuddles while I showered and got ready. I took a few pictures, but this one was my favorite. They are so cute!
We love co-sleeping too! I can’t believe more people don’t do it. I can’t imagine having to wake up and walk to the baby room all the time .. no wonder so many American moms are sleep deprived!
What a precious picture!!! Jen, you’re a great mom.
question: do you think it will be hard to get maisie adjusted to sleeping away from you at some point in the future? that has been my only hesitation. ari slept in our bed once in the first week, but grew accustomed to being in her own bed (well, the baby-carriage for now…). I know some people who are having trouble getting their 2 kids adjusted to sleeping alone. Arianna does stay in our room; I like having her close enough.. I frequently put my finger in front of her nose to check if she is still breathing!
goodness- mothers have so many things to worry about 🙂 what a cute photo! I have several of Daniel&Ari, too.
We did the co sleeping thing, too. With our older daughter, we ended up having a lot of sleep problems as she got older. With our younger one, we did it WAY less time-only a few months, and she is a much better sleeper. I treasured those times when they were babies, and it went by so quickly!
Hello! Neither of us were ever into letting Maisie cry it out, so she hasn’t necessarily been the type of baby where we could just lay her in her crib to fall asleep. I feel like we have had to train her (and are still in the process of doing so) without all the tears.
We didn’t want her to get used to falling asleep only one way because we knew we eventually wanted her out of our bed. When Maisie was 6 months old, we would lay her in her bed asleep and she would go for like ten hours straight! We still rock her (or I nurse her) to sleep sometimes, but mostly we will give her a bottle in her crib and eventually she will push it away and turn over and a few minutes later she has fallen asleep on her own. I still stay next to her the whole time until she falls asleep(just to let her know I am there). I am hoping the next stage is to give her a bottle in her crib and let her fall asleep on her own, but we’ll see! Right now I am really happy with how we are doing things. We just sort of roll with the punches and see how Maisie is doing with it all.
So Eva, I think Maisie is already adjusted to sleeping away from us for most of the night. I don’t think she is old enough to understand sleeping in her own room by herself, but when she is, I think we will definitely encourage that.
Oh boy, I was not going to comment but here I go………We let our firt baby sleep with us (13yrs ago) because one, he did not like his bed and cried all night. We were so sleep deprived. Two, once he slept with us once, I loved it! I loved to cuddle with him. Then……he got bigger and we were starting to get tired of being kicked.
Putting him in his own bed was not making him too happy. Then when he was almost 2, we bought him a big kid bed, made a huge deal about it and he loved it. No problems.
I forgot to add this, we tried the method of letting our baby cry himself to sleep because our ped. recomended it. It was horrible! We lasted 2 days, the doc said it could take up to two weeks of Cory crying before it worked. There was NO WAY that I was going to let my baby cry. They are only small for such a short time. Believe me, I now have a 13 yr. old and it only seems like yesterday that I was rocking him to sleep. Make the most of every moment. I feel the same way about meal time. My kids are picky but I don’t make a huge fuss. It’s our family time and I want it to be peacefull. OK, I’m done now. LOL
Hey Diane! Thanks for commenting! Your second post almost brought a tear to my eye! How sweet that you remember rocking your boy to sleep thirteen years ago, as if it were just yesterday! I hope I never forget. They really are precious times!
I know it is easier said than done and it was interesting reading the comments on here. Once our little one comes in June things may change. However, I am pretty adamant about our baby sleeping in his own bed. I have just heard too many horror stories about kids later on down the road. I know of a couple that years later, they had all 5 kids sleeping in their room and the oldest was 10! Like you Jen, I think it may be really tough to let them cry and have to not do anything. But on the flip side, I am scared that ou child would have co-dependency issues and not learn to deal with things himself if we let him sleep in our bed. I know it is definitely fun for you so best of luck with your cuddling!
Hey Jeremy! Thanks for commenting. I can totally see your point of view on not wanting baby to become co-dependent, and I agree. That is why we started putting Maisie in her bed for the night at six months. She now only spends the mornings (now from like 6-8am) in bed with us. She definitely knows how to sleep in her bed by herself, which I am very thankful for.
As far as letting your baby cry it out, I would do some research into it and if you don’t feel uncomfortable with it, just don’t do it. If you are going to try crying it out, I would wait for some time and not even THINK of it in the first six months. Sometimes there can be a lot of pressure on this issue (either way) and I think you need to just trust your instincts on all of it (co-sleeping and crying it out and all that stuff). Trust yourself! That is my biggest advice for any new parent!
I know that co-sleeping is not for everyone, but it has been really great for us, and I see that it is coming to an end, so I am enjoying while she still lets us! They grow up so fast!!! All of it will go by so quickly, so just enjoy every moment!!!
I was raised by parents who co-slept with all 5 kid’s. After the first, they all co sleep with each other! Don’t worry. We are all in our own beds now. I do still prefer to cuddle with another human being rather than sleep alone. Don’t we all? Luckily I am married and a mom who now co-sleeps. 🙂
My opinion is..
When babies are babies…they are just that. They don’t understand being pushed out and take it as rejection/horrible I want to die experience. They won’t understand the reasoning behind why there is no room in the bed, why mommy & daddy need alone time, etc. A 3 year old can (despite a fit). I understand that it may be difficult to get them used to their own bed once it is time, howeveyou can explain & discipline a tantrum with a 5, 4 , 3 or even a 2 year old. That is the time for them to “cry it out”. It just may take a firm stance, which a 3 year old can handle. I agree with Jen that mom’s will know what is right for their infants. Dad’s should defer during this short early period to the maternal instincts of their wife and not pressure a sobbing mother to leave her 2 week old in the nursery. I loved co-sleeping and still do. I also love her in her in her little co-sleeper bed next to us with our bed to ourselves. And one day, when # 2 comes along, we may brave the room down the hall for more than nap time…yikes! Not ready yet…
Okay, so I have nothing to add to the co-sleeping debate…I’m all over the map! We’ve had babies in bassinettes next to our bed, babies in our bed, babies in swings in our room, babies in cribs in their own room, toddlers on our floor and big kids in our oversized chair! I loved each and every chaotic moment and for the majority of nights all three kids sleep in their own rooms. You know me Jen-My advice, Do what works for you today…
So my whole reason for commenting here was to say that I love this picture! Since Eliza is now obsessed with pictures of Maisie, we always end on this post and I say “Oh, look, shhhhhh, Maisie went night-night.” It works for today 🙂