Next up, co-sleeping. We have always co-slept in our house. Mostly motivated by laziness. I do admit to not really intending to co-sleep, it just happened. We all just got more sleep that way. Still do. I find that my kids even sleep in longer in the mornings because they get that early morning snuggle time. And co-sleeping is just a MUST when you breastfeed. All I have to do is roll over, hook the baby onto the boob and go back to sleep. Now, it is a bit more of a juggle with triplets but we do it. We have turned our crib into a sidecar. Awesome. And Gwendolen does prefer to sleep a bit more solo than her sisters so she sleeps mostly in there. I still just jump from baby to baby to nurse them at night, and you know what? I GET SLEEP. Lots of it. So, it's either laziness or convenience, or, maybe its the fact that babies need to be with others, not only during sleep, but all.the.time. I'm pretty sure that we are the only culture, in all of our civilized glory, that forces our babies to sleep in a "cage". Plus, who can argue with the fact that co-sleeping drastically reduces the rate of SIDS.
So, in our king sized bed, your likely to find, at any given hour of the night, Aaron, me, 3/6 month old babies, a 2 year old and a 4 year old. I wouldn't change it for the world.
Here are some links on co-sleeping, and above, the sidecar link is clickable and shows you how to turn your crib into a sidecar too.
Happy co-sleeping!!!
Why Human babies should not sleep alone
Infant Sleep
Co-Sleeping & SIDS
Healthy Infant Sleep
SIDS, Co-sleeping, & Breastfeeding
A Transcultural look at co-sleeping
You will notice that most references come from a parenting blog that I follow. I highly suggest following her blog. She is amazing!
Peaceful Parenting
The Fear Of Death
3 years ago
The sidecar link is screwy, fyi
ReplyDeleteThanks! I fixed it :)
ReplyDeleteFYI: The first several links don't work right. They have too many http:// in them.
ReplyDeleteBecause it was easiest, most of my babies co-slept about 50% of the time. My first would NOT sleep if he didn't have his own space, so we always had a crib or basenet near by. It came in really handy for nap time.
Ah crud. Thats what happens when I tandem nurse and blog :/
ReplyDeleteco-slept with all four of our little beings. Thank you for all the info.... shared your info on facebook and reposted it on my blog :)
ReplyDeleteand i thought our king sized bed was full...nope...you win! my 2 year old is a WILD sleeper, i often wake up with feet on my head or legs over my neck. I dont know how you do it with two toddlers and 3 babies! I agree, i get kicked alot, head butted sometimes...but I wouldnt trade it for the world. I love having my babies beside me at all times, especially when theyre all cozy and peaceful, those are some of the sweetest moments.
ReplyDeleteBabies need us, they need that closeness. They spent 9 months living inside of us. To completely seperate baby from mommy, thats sad to think about. I beg my kids to sleep with me, but all they want to do is play :(
ReplyDeleteI would love to see a picture of all of you in that bed. How precious is that!!!
ReplyDeleteWe co-sleep as well, DH and I, our 4 year old, 2 year old, and our 3 month old. We just got a king size bed around November and it's heaven!! :)