Co-sleeping

Sat Dec 01, 2012 12:54 pm

What are your thoughts on co-sleeping? DH and I have gone back and forth on this several times. First, we thought Baby should sleep in his own room right from the beginning. But then I started understanding exactly how much I'm going to be going back and forth between rooms for feeding during the night, and I kind of decided it would be nicer for me if I could lose as little sleep as possible by having Baby in the same bedroom with us. However, I don't want Baby in bed with us because I'm terrified of rolling over on him or not noticing if something happened to him (a blanket covering his face, etc). Not to mention, we have a large dog who sleeps in bed with us. I love him and trust him, but I would never be able to sleep because I'd be afraid he'd try to "cuddle" with Baby and suffocate him...

So I've started looking into co-sleeper things that attach to the side of the bed so that Baby has his own personal area, but he's still within arm's reach for nighttime feedings. My problem is that I can't find things like that where I live (Norway). I find really nice ones on Amazon (both the American site and the British site), but they don't ship to Norway - only books, CD's, etc. There are certain (very few) items that can be shipped to Norway, but of course they're more expensive than I really would like to pay...

Those of you who have experience with this already....Is it worth it to fork up money for a co-sleeper/bassinet?? Is the money worth the sleep? Or is it just a huge waste of money for something that only gets used for a few months? Would it be better to buy something like a "Moses Basket" that we could place in the middle of the bed between DH and me, which would protect Baby from dangers like the dog and/or us rolling over on him? Any thoughts are greatly appreciated! :-D

Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:25 pm

My Dh and I were also debating this topic. We knew we'd have him in with us for the first 6 months or so due to room space. After we talked about it for a bit we decided to go with a pack and play that had a bassinet attachment. This way he gets used to sleeping in his own "bed" of sorts but he's close by for feedings and such.

While I don't have a lot of experience since this is also my first, I can only tell what I've heard. I had a friend who's dog also slept in bed with them. He's one of the biggest loves ever too. They got one of those center of the bed sleepers and he still tried to get in and nose around the baby because he wanted to be close.

So I would recommend a pack and play with a bassinet attachment. That way you've got the closeness for feedings but baby is used to their own bed. Also as baby gets bigger, he/she can still use the pack and play. A regular bassinet only goes up to about 35lbs.

Sat Dec 01, 2012 6:06 pm

Hubby and i co-slept with all three of our children. We do not have to worry about pets though. I know that in other countries there are lower infant deaths when baby in is the room with mom and dad.
We decided to have our children in our bed because we all slept better that way. When i started to feel better after birth, we moved the baby to his/her own bed/playpen/bassinet.
I definitely recommend at least rooming in. This way there is less travel time and you will get more sleep when baby makes those cute sounds that sometimes wake us up before the crying starts.
For me i was always worried about breathing and all i would have to do is look at baby to make sure that he/she was at least breathing.
Good luck on making your decision

Mon Dec 03, 2012 2:19 pm

I have a little cradle in our room that I used for my other 2. We didn't use it long as I wanted the babies to get used to sleeping in their crib in their own room. We used it for just a couple weeks until the baby started getting into a normal sleeping schedule. I find myself not sleeping at all with the baby in the room because I constantly keep peeking at him/her. Or I don't want to roll over because I'm afriad the blankets shuffling will wake him. So I lay there awake instead. Same with a video monitor. I can't sleep because I want to watch the video all the time. This time I bought a montior with no video. I'm a light sleeper so I'm not worried I won't wake up when he cries. My personal thought is the sooner you create a routine and a sleep schedule for the baby the better. If you want the baby to sleep in their own room the sooner you get them used to that the better. If you keep the baby in your room for a few months then all of a sudden you want to have them switch to their own room that's a big change for the baby and you could have to start all over again getting them back on schedule. It's a personal choice for sure, I'm sure you'll make the right decision for you.

Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:13 pm

I co-slept with my daughter and she is almost 3 and still wants me to fall asleep .... so I am planning on starting the crib from the beginning .... but debating on a bassinet next to our bed for the very beginning.