On Co-Sleeping

It's a good thing this post has taken awhile to write because my opinion and experience keeping changing. :) Before Timothy was born, Chris wanted to have him sleep in our bed, at least at first. While I wasn't thrilled with this idea (I was afraid of rolling over him and I wanted to be able to snuggle with my husband), I agreed to at least give it a shot at some point.

During the first few weeks of newborn craziness, we initially tried Timmy in his Pack 'N Play bassinet at the foot of our bed, but he didn't like it. Same with the crib, so our bed was where he slept. It actually worked out pretty well, especially when he was waking every few hours to nurse. Frankly, walking into his room every few hours was too much in the middle of the night, and after being so incredibly pregnant, I definitely wasn't in the habit of rolling so I didn't worry about squishing him. We also have a king size bed, so we certainly didn't lack space, and I liked knowing when he was hungry because he'd start moving and making noise, but not all out crying.

That worked well for awhile, until Timothy was 5-6 weeks old and discovered hey! I can move my legs! and my arms! And I can make noise with my voice! Suddenly, he wasn't very cuddly (unless he was soundly asleep) and not so fun to share a bed with. Thankfully, we got him and his crib on speaking terms again. For awhile he'd stay in our bed after eating at 4 or 5, but I think that just confused him, so now he typically spends all night in his crib until we start our day. If we've had a short night, though, he'll sometimes lay in our bed with me in the mornings so I can doze while he talks and then we snuggle/sleep. :)

For those of you who co-sleep for more than a month (haha), I admire you, because I have no idea how you manage the flailing of baby limbs. :) Like most of mothering/parenthood, time and experience changes our opinion. So even though it wasn't what we'd envisioned from the start, it's worked for us.

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