# Help with Co-sleeping logistics



## mrsrlim (Apr 12, 2014)

Tired, party of two? That's us!

My DS is almost 8 months and is up frequently. I'm ok with this, although my husband and I are exhausted. We co-sleep during the really difficult times (i.e.: sleep regression, teething, milestones, sickness, etc...pretty much, a lot!)

I think one of the things holding me back from co-sleeping consistently (for at least this season of life) is that I don't understand some of the logistics. For example, do you all go to bed together? Does baby start in a crib in then you bring him in with you? I keep reading that there shouldn't be blankets that can come up over his face...so what do you cover yourself with? if baby sleep on tummy in crib for naps, how do you keep them on their back for co-sleeping? I wake up terrified that somehow he has rolled into a pillow (that I keep far away!)....does that anxiety wane?

I realize there might be a variety of answers; I welcome all your thoughts! Thank you so much!


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## researchparent (Oct 14, 2013)

We co-sleep with our 4 year old and 2 year old. We have another baby due next month, and we're planning to co-sleep with him too. One thing that makes our family weird is that we choose not to have a bed or even a mattress. Instead we sleep on a carpeted floor on top of a couple spread out king size blankets. With my first child, I felt really insecure putting him directly on the floor with us, so for the first couple months he slept in a "Snuggle Nest" which was supposed to keep him on his back and prevent us from rolling on top of him. By the time he was 2 months old, I hated that thing and was completely exhausted from having to get him out to nurse him, so we stopped using it and life was much better. With my second child, I just started directly nursing her to sleep in her spot next to me on the blanket, which naturally put her on her back when she was finished. Each person in our bed has their own blanket to cover with at night, so when we have a child under 1, we just dress them warmly and don't give them one. (No pillow either, obviously.) An advantage of using the floor instead of a bed is that we have a lot of space to work with, so we're able to spread out a bit.

My husband and I still "help" our kids go to sleep at night, but we don't go to bed at the same time as them. For example, my husband just finished putting on their jammies and brushing their teeth and is reading them a story. Now it's my turn to go in and read one more story to them, then I'll rub their backs for a couple minutes, then read a grown up book in bed between them while they fall asleep. Within 20 minutes, they'll both be asleep and my husband and I will have private-child free time for about an hour before we go to bed too.


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## bridgezilla (May 7, 2014)

We have been sleeping with our son since birth. We usually keep the room warm enough and dress him appropriately so that he doesn't need a blanket. My husband also usually dresses in something warm, so I am normally the only one with a blanket, but it is pushed down by my waist and it comes nowhere near my son's face. We also keep him lower than the pillows so he never came near them, and we keep the pillows as far towards the edges of the bed as possible. We normally always go to bed with him, then when he is asleep we creep out and do whatever we need to, just prop pillows so he can't roll off the bed, and normally only one of us leaves the room at a time.. So, hope this helps!


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## mommy2r (Apr 18, 2013)

First of all, here's some humor:




No, we don't go to bed together. I nurse, rock, pat our 21mo to sleep depending on how much "assistance" she may be needing at the time. She gets put into bed and the video monitor gets turned on. (Purchased after she rolled off the bed at 6 mos!)
DD gets dressed warm enough for the room. I use a sheet and blanket and if it has ever managed to make it on top of her she kicks violently to get it off. Know your gut on this one though. I had a nurse tell me that a healthy child will react in the event of potential suffocation, which is why it's best to not co-sleep if you are obese, under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or are a smoker.
Same goes for pillows. DD has always been a tosser. Sleeping on her tummy, back and side from birth.
The anxiety is your instinct/protective mechanism that is built in to help you keep your little one safe. And yes, in time it does get better.
Hope this helps! Oh and my DH is a very heavy sleeper, so only recently did our DD sleep between us.


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

We've co-slept full time from birth with both girls. We use bedrails and have the mattress on the floor. Although I now sleep in another room with DD2 and we have bedrails but haven't needed to dismantle the bed. I just put pillows in the gaps when I'm not with her.

From about 4mo I would start leaving them in bed for some day time sleeps. A bit older and I feed them to sleep in bed at night and then get up until I am ready for bed. Depending on the age and the child I may have to go back once or more to feed them back to sleep before I am ready for bed myself. Sometimes, if they're sick or we are very tired we will go to bed with them and stay with them.

We haven't needed monitors. Our house is all on one level and small enough that we can hear them call. From the time we started leaving them they've both been able to call once, then wait for us to come. Occasionally they wake up crying but it's rare.

I use my ordinary pillow but have most of it behind me so my head on the end rather than in the middle. I either pull the covers up just to my waist or scootch down so my head is level with theirs or lower if I want the covers over my shoulders. The older they get the less this seems of be an issue. And, as with a PP, both my girls will kick until the covers are off them and then keep kicking just to make sure we've all got the message if even a millimetre of sheet gets on them


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## macrandall (Feb 1, 2013)

My twins are 14 months old and we have two floor mattresses next to each other (takes up pretty much the whole master bedroom). Around 9:00 (8:00 if we're lucky, 10:00 if we're cursed) they go to bed, one against one wall and one in the center of the mattress mound. We line the wall with pillows. They typically sleep fine until I go to bed, sleeping between them, around 10:00. They sleep through the night fairly consistently, though not every night, until around 8am. At this age, I no longer worry about blankets and pillows. They can get out of any jam, and actually, one of them slept with her head under a pillow last night and got upset when I tried to move it, haha! At 8 months, I feel you'd be fine with a light blanket and some pillows, but of course that's up to you. When mine were newborns, I wore a cardigan or a robe to bed and just had a sheet over my legs. I've heard of people using afghans or similar blankets with crochet holes for safety, instead.


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## macrandall (Feb 1, 2013)

Oh, and we have monitors on for when we're in the basement, but most of the time now they climb off the mattress, pull open the door (which we just leave cracked) and come out to find us. I find this so charming.


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