QOTD take 2.

rikkiandjulie

Cosleeping. Have you and your partner considered this?

For those of you that are curious here is the link that proposed my question:

http://kidshealth.org/parent/general/sleep/cosleeping.html

Mrs._F

I really like the idea of cosleeping.  C is terrified of suffocating the baby.  Who knows what will happen when we actually have our baby - we've talked about it and will do what feels right.  But we are definitely going to do the next closest thing and use a cosleeper:

http://www.armsreach.com/shop-3/the-original-1/natural-short-liner-19.html

Especially since I plan to breastfeed, having the baby in arms reach is so convenient.  I don't think our baby will see a crib until s/he outgrows the cosleeper.  Of course, in the of case babies - everything is subject to change as you figure out what works best for your family.

thiswillbe

Funny that you ask this right now-- we just had a conversation about it this weekend. Sylvia is very against the cosleeping idea. I'm not really for or against it (I've read some, but not really enough to make an informed decision). I might decide against it for us anyway, since they say that it can be dangerous for babies to cosleep when one of the parents has sleep apnea or takes medication that really knocks them out, which S does. All that said, we both definitely want the baby in the room with us for at least the first few months.

Since S doesn't want the baby in the bed, we'll probably go the route Brit mentioned, getting a cosleeper for my side of the bed (of course, I'd call it a "crib" for S's benefit... grin). As with all things baby-related, any thoughts or ideas are completely subject to frequent revision!

ctbride08

Baby wont be in bed with us....perhaps TMI, but i'd be really concerned about how much that would affect our sex life...but we love the idea of the arm's reach crib and will likely go with that for the beginning months. 

Mrs._F

Elise - the sex life is the reason I'm only for it with infants. In those first months when we're so sleep deprived and I'm still recovering from birth, I don't think much hanky-panky will be going on anyway :-)  But as soon as the sparks start flying again... Look at this beautiful crib for you to seep in! ;-)

A family in my family (that sounds odd) cosleeps with their school-age child.... Do they just do it during the day?  Does she have to sleep in her room some nights? Who knows! I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but for us - cosleeping is something just for babies.

2brides

Ahhh...a question close to me heart.   Before we has kids, I was adamant that everyone had their own bed and was going to sleep in them. I am a hospital social worker and work in the ER a good bit - I've seen MANY newborns come in dead after being smothered by an exhausted parent.  Fast forward to the weeks following the kids being born.  We had one of the cribs set up in our room so they were close for middle of the night feedings, etc - but Carter wanted to sleep next to us. He slept 100% better if he were between us.  So, we compromised and bought a snuggle nest.  http://www.snugglenest.com/  it was a great compromise.  He slept there till he was about 4 months old and than transitioned to his crib.

 When Grayson was about a year old, he started waking during the middle of the night and not wanting to go back to sleep in his bed. Being that we were exhausted, we gave in and brought him to our bed.  14 months later he is still here.  He goes to sleep in his bed, but sometime between 11-4, he comes to our bed.  Ideal?  No, but right now it is working okay.  We don't worry about rolling over on him (can't really miss a 25lb nearly 3 ft tall kid in your bed!)  If anything is going to happen between us in bed, it'll happen before 11pm - kid or no kid.  We are beat.

 All this to say, you never know.  I've learned not to say never - except for big things like hitting. Parenting is a crazy ride.

 
Good luck to all those TTC!!