Help me: cosleeping is frustrating and possibly unsafe for me!

[BananaBreadGirl]

Hello. I wanted to cosleep but never found an affordable mattress (we have a waterbed and I didn't want to have him in that, obviously). I ended up sleeping on the couch for the early morning feedings. I feel that the couch is much safer than a waterbed but I know it's still not considered a safe place to cosleep. After a few weeks, I just started sleeping on the couch the whole night. It's not super comfortable, and it makes my living room a mess. Also, now that my baby is a little older (almost 4 months) and needs an earlier bedtime than I do, he won't sleep in his basket/crib/swing from ~8 until ~10:00. He wakes up multiple times during the evening (screaming and tired, and is normally a very happy baby).

Any suggestions for how I can make this work for me? I'd like to be able to nurse him to sleep and then LAY HIM DOWN until I go to bed or until he needs a first nighttime feeding. When I sleep with him goes 6-7 hours without nursing in the middle of the night.

Oh, and he is teething. Am I asking too much?

[MaterPrimaePuellae]

I would sell the water bed and buy a new mattress. Alternatively, a tolerably good twin mattress would probably not be too expensive, and that would be better than the couch. You'll have to buy one for the child at some point anyway, right?

[aksign]

Just sympathizing. we actually have a good king mattress (although it is pillowtop) but I find it very uncomfortable to do side lying nursing, so have opted for recliner downstairs for co-sleeping, knowing it isnt the perfect alternative, but just what works for time being.

I dont ever "put baby down" for even naps- he is a year old... he is a wonderful sleeper in our set up. But I think that even though they can go for so long at a stretch without nursing, it wouldn't be that long if they were alone. I think they are comforted and sleep longer and better bc they feel the warmth of mom, heartbeat, etc. I can feel him just checking in with me during sleep, rubbing/scratching my skin.
it does put a cramp in our style- DH feels completely left out of things, and i would occasionally like to be able to put DS down.

[BananaBreadGirl]

The water bed I built w/ my dad so I can't sell it . I guess I could just disassemble/drain it for now, or drain it and move it to another room, and then, of course, I'd still have to buy something to sleep on. Thanks for the sympathizing/advice. It helps me think through my options, at least, and know that I'm not crazy!

[rubidoux]

How about some sort of platform on top of the drained waterbed, like just a sturdy board? And you should be able to find a mattress through a thrift store, craigslist, freecycle, word of mouth. If you can stand it, a futon would probably be pretty good for a baby to sleep on, though he wouldn't have that much fun jumping on it when he's older.

As for not being able to put baby down to sleep, I'm with you there. My little guy is 8 mos and I have been holding him between my six year old's bedtime and mine, which is like four hours. I swear I'm gonna figure out something better soon!