She needs an arm to sleep!

[EmilyG]

When DD#1 was born, I held her all night, her head on my arm and my arm wrapped around her body with me on my side as we slept. It made nursing at night easy, and I knew right where she was and didn't have to worry about pillows/blankets getting on her face, because she was there in my arms all night. Fast-forward 4 years later and the girl still thinks she needs her head on my arm to sleep! It was a huge pain while I was pregnant, but now that I've got a new baby, I spend half the night with a girl on each arm and I'm stuck flat on my back and can't even itch my nose when I have a scratch! I slide my arm out from under her when I roll to nurse DD#2, and she usually rolls over and takes Dh's arm for awhile, but we're both getting fed up with her being unable to sleep without an arm. Any ideas? We've talked to her about how she's a big girl and can sleep on the pillow part of the time, and she agrees to try, but when she's tired, she thinks she still needs the arm to fall asleep. The worst part is that I'm doing the same thing with DD#2. She's 5 months and I've been holding her all night too, I just can't sleep without her in my arm, but I don't want to create the same night-time monster I did with DD#1. Any suggestions? How do you sleep with your baby's?

[JenLiz]

If you can't do it. Don't! If you don't want to. Don't! It really can be that easy. She really can sleep without your arm. And, as a parent IMO it's your job to set limits for your daughter. (-:

This happened with me and my dd (3 now), and I stopped letting her use my arm telling her that it hurt mama, that I couldn't sleep and that we need to make sure the people we love are OK and that this was not OK for me. She cried a little each time, but I was consistent and quickly she got used to it. Just make sure she has a thin pillow to use.
Good luck!