Co-sleeping

I didn't want to put this in the mom's thread, because it's a pretty big topic on it's own.

Lillian had been sleeping fine in her cradle up until a few days ago. She was originally able to fall asleep if we put her down "drowsy but awake", but then after a few days home would only sleep if we held her and then put her down - which was fine. But the past few days were difficult to get her to stay asleep...

Last night she slept in bed with me. I don't really want to co-sleep (even though I don't think there's anything wrong with it if it's done properly)...but she slept almost 6 hours. My concerns are it'd be REALLY difficult to stop if I went back on medication (which makes me sleep a little heavier, and I'd be uncomfortable with that), and I'm not sure I'd be okay with co-sleeping when her dad is there...right now he stays over if he has two days off (only every few weeks) but we're tentatively planning on moving in together in a few months.

So, co-sleeping...who's done it, who hasn't, why...advice, opinions, etc?

Also, any tips on getting her to sleep on her own?
(we've tried swaddling, white noise, the cradle rocks automatically, patting her until she falls asleep, using a pacifier, waiting until she's REALLY asleep before putting her down, etc.)

we cosleep . google sidecar a crib and that is how we do it.
i also had a pair of gloves filled with beans and tied that i would put on one of the girls backs to trick them into thinking someone was there.


god luck and sleeping babies are magical i hope you can find a fix for ya

I am a big proponent of co-sleeping. Helped both of my children sleep better AND it helped me sleet better.

What about using a regular mattress in her room that you could sleep in sometimes, or for part of the night if you dont want to do full time?

We cosleep too. Everleigh has only ever slept while being held so for everyone's sake, it was our only option. We don't do anything special. She sleeps beside me, facing me on her side and I sleep on my side with my arm under my pillow above my head so I don't roll on her. (I'm a really light sleeper).

The problem is, she's getting bigger and our bed is not. We may have to sidecar a crib since she doesn't appear to be able to sleep on her own yet, even if we wait until she's deeply asleep and then set her down.

We sidecarred with my daughter. Then right before my son was born transitioned her to a mattress at the foot of our bed but that didnt last long..she asked for her own room. My son slept side carred for a bit but was a total wiggler and mover from day one so we ended up putting our matress on the floor and then a twin for him pushed up against it.

We did not co sleep. I am just not a co sleeper. One, our bed is not big enough. I need my space and two in the bed is the limit lol nights when Hannah has a bad dream or there is a storm... I don't sleep a wink because I can't sleep the way I need to due to space and she is a knead-er lol. always has been. she likes to rub her toes all up on you like a cat. Two, I can HEAR her lol. I couldn't even have the monitor in our room for at night because the extra noise kept me awake (and I sleep with white noise). I was (am) so sensitive to noise at night that I could hear her binky fall out of the crib in the middle of the night onto the carpet floor and I would wake up. I hear it if the dogs get off the couch in the middle of the night lol.

Co sleeping is just not for me. it was easier for me to get up out of the bed multiple times a night than have her in the bed with me and me awake all night long.

The thing that worked best for us was a routine. I know that sounds weird for a newborn and it won't always work lol but I would give her a bath with lavender scent, I would play her little musical aquarium thing that played the same song, I would rock her and read her a story with dim lighting, put her into her crib and rub her arm and then leave. She rarely fussed about being in her crib and even in the morning she would wake up and I would go in and change her and feed her and sometimes if I was really tired... I would put her back in the crib with her aquarium playing and I would go back to bed and she would fall back asleep usually. the rubbing of the arm or tummy or back or leg was the key for her. She loved it... still does. She is just like me... that was my thing when I was a kid and I made my mom do it every night until I was like 12 LOL. Still to this day every night after a story I have to rub her back, then her leg, then her tummy and then her arm in THAT ORDER lol. and if she's tired while we are out or she's not feeling well, she'll curl up in my lap and ask me to rub her leg lol

I did co-sleeping with my first son (now 23) but not with my second (now 13)

Why? The plain and simple answer is that with every child in this house (the 2 I birthed and the 3 I didn't) I have ALWAYS tried to do what works best for the individual.

My oldest was more of a snuggler and rested better being held or cuddled. It was just much more restful and simple for us both. I think we co-slept until he was about 3, he got a 'big boy' bed and he would still crash with me now and then until he started Kindergarten.

My youngest son was NOT (and still isn't) a snuggler/cuddler. He wanted his own space and was more like TV babies.....you know the ones who lay in the crib and drift off after you leave the room? LOL, that was him so I let him be him.

I understand your concerns for later down the road and I wish I had some advice you haven't tried but I do not

That's just it ACooper-- babies are such individuals and they come with such obvious personalities, don't they?

Everleigh is my first and I thought I was pretty flexible in my plans for when she arrived but I never realized the degree to which you have to let any preconceived notions of who they will be go. I've been dead wrong in my assumptions of who she would be. I never anticipated having such a clingy, needy baby so I'm trying to just roll with her lead. I figure she won't be sleeping in our bed when she goes to college. That's a light at the end of a very long tunnel, no?

So true lol....I was definitely NOT going to co-sleep when I had Lilah....I was proven wrong lol

Oh yeah, they have their own unique personalities for sure. Hannah was the ultimate starter baby. Super easy and laid back (still is) and it sounds terrible to say it but that's part of the reason I was afraid to have a second child. I was so spoiled with her and I just knew I wouldn't luck out with an easy baby twice lol. I never even had to baby proof anything. I always tell me people that I fear I've been lulled into a sense of complacency that if I had a child that wasn't so easy... They might die because I would be like MEH lol

Katie and I co slept.

It just worked best for getting up with her, or not having to because we slept in the same bed.

Its kind of an issue now. She has such a hard time sleeping on her own now at 4yrs old.

We had that problem with my son Jenn at about that age. What I did was let him lay on the couch to fall asleep them move him into his room. He just liked being in the same room as us to fall asleep. It didn't take him long to transition to his room to go to bed.

Everleigh has peed the bed two mornings in a row. Yesterday was for sure my fault since I was letting her have some naked time and didn't have enough layers under her. Today her diaper must have leaked out the top. The dark side of cosleeping.

She slept with me again last night...tonight her dad will be here, so we'll try the cradle again. (I also haven't told him she's been sleeping with me. Oops.)