Monday, February 15, 2010

Pros & Cons to Co-Sleeping

Co-sleeping was the one thing that I didn’t want to partake in with my newborn; well I wasn’t too keen on the idea.  I used to feel to each their own and I’m sure it could work for some people. 
Well after having a c-section and healing was up and down, Lloyd kept insisting that Sachiko sleep in the bed with us! YIKES! I was afraid I would roll on-top of her, squish her, bump her and so on, but night one went smooth.  I also forgot that I could barely move as it was because of the healing process from post-surgery. 
Lloyd also didn’t want our little one sleeping on her own as he felt her room was too cold for her, never mind the fact that he thought she was scared of sleeping alone.  Either way he had a few good points and let him leave her in the bed with us.  After a bit I loved having her there, the bed was nice and toasty on those cold mornings and was easier to tend to her when she woke up.  She used to immediately go into screaming fits when she was hungry and wouldn’t let up until her bottle or my breast were in her mouth for feeding time!
Ok so I admit it, co-sleeping is great and it was extra bonding time with our daughter but really the only one con that I could think up was where’s the daddy and mommy time????? So those odd occasions that we were able to get her into her crib we took advantage of them.  Movie in bed and lots of cuddling. 
Later, I did discover one other con… it was when I felt it was time to work on getting her in her own bed, and for all the time.  It took me a good three (3) weeks to even a month to get her sleeping thru the nights like she used to and so on.  I’m finally up to 12 hours of her getting a solid sleep, sorry to those who are still struggling with early morning feedings, but my daughter is sleeping like a toddler.  She was always a good sleeper from the start. She would wake up about every four (4) hours in the beginning, than every four to 6 hours by the time she was about four weeks old.  When she reached her 2 month mark she was already sleeping eight to 9 hours at a time and when she reached the three month mark her sleeping time jumped to 12 to 14 hours.  True bliss when you can get your infant to sleep all through the night. 
I wanted to start getting her into her own bed by around two (2) months, I figured the earlier the better it is for her in the long run.  I also happened to catch an episode of Dr. Phil, and I must say I’m not usually a fan of his show but this one I thought had some really good information regarding babies and toddlers.  Apparently, its recommended to start getting your little one in their own bed around four (4) to 6 months of age because it just gets that much harder afterwards.  One parent said her daughter was about a year old when she tried getting her into her own bed and every time she would put her to bed the child thought it was play time.  This was one struggle that I didn’t want to have to endure later down the road.  But with a little work and back to restless nights for about three (3) to 4 weeks wasn’t too bad and was worth it.  She’s sleeping very successfully on her own for 12 to 14 hours at night and this has allowed to start to catch up, assuming I don’t get caught up in my mommy-time!
The best way that I found to get your baby to stay in their own bed all night was to keep them in their room.  I would cradle her to sleep in her room and when she would wake up I changed her diaper and feed her a bottle in her room.  She would never leave her room at night, so if I had to make a bottle I would lay her back in her crib until I came back with it.  I think this also helped her to be more independent and more patient, she’s also gotten better with self-soothing herself.  I’m very proud of my accomplishment with her and I’m sure if she understood a bit more she would be too! What worked for you? or are you still working on the transition?

5 comments:

  1. Love the blog. I run a baby and breastfeeding blog and love reading others.
    MC

    http://www.twitter.com/martha_carr

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  2. I still have mine in the bed, she is 13 months. It is hard, she throws up if I try to leave her in the crib. Good advice to moms on starting early:)

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  3. We kept our son in our bed till his first birthday. For the most part we were both so happy. My opinion is that this time is only once in a lifetime and will never come back, and there's nothing like waking up with baby every morning. Having said that every case is different, and I'm not sure we'll do the same when number 2 comes along. The transition to his own bed and bedroom wasn't hard, and I put that down to him feeling confident about our love and care to him! ;)

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  4. My son has always been a fabulous nightime sleeper, he slept through the night by six weeks. I coslept with him for the first six weeks, and then transitioned to him in his crib but in our room so he could still feel close to us, then at about three months or so we moved him into his own room and he did great. I don't know how it would've worked if we'd chosen a different way to transition or never coslept to begin with, but I do think having a step by step transition was probably better than to just try to throw him in his own room and bed without us after having been in our bed even just for six weeks.

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  5. Well I'm onto my daughters 6 month "birthday" and she's sleeping great in her own bed. I still bring her into our room for the odd night of co-sleeping and just recently because she was sick. Cuddling seems to be some great medicine!

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