For the co-sleepers

[MsGrizzle]

How are your babies sleeping in your bed? Directly on the mattress? In your arm? In a co-sleeper?

I swore left and right, up and down that I would not let Nathan sleep in the crook of my arm. I did that with my older ds and being in that same position, night after night, I ended up with a painful case of bursitis in my shoulder that took years to feel better. Well, guess where Nathan sleeps best?? In my arm of course! We have one of those co-sleeper bassinets that go right in the bed. He'll stay there an hour or so but not much more. I've also had him in his car seat between us as well! He seems to sleep okay if I put him directly on the mattress but my comfort level is very low with that setup. I feel he is safest in my arm because I can control where he goes...but I don't want a sore shoulder again!

So what do you do?

[aydensmama]

I feel your pain....we also have a bassinet, but after the early morning feed he ended up in the crook of my arm, bacause he did not fuss!!!! Let me know what you find out!

[Mama Poot]

Henri sleeps on his side facing me, or on his back next to me. We have a co-sleeper, and it makes a great changing table at night He has to sleep with Mama. otherwise he cries

[SabbathD]

Well, we start out in a positioner, and by the first feeding we end up straight on the mattress. We have never ever had a time when it wasn't okay, or where she rolled over or anything like that. Every once in a while, she won't get to sleep, even though I can see that she is tired. So, she ends up sleeping on my chest while I am lying on my back. I started out really nervous, and refused to take her out of the arms reach that we have next to the bed, but I agree with pp. It makes a great changing table now and it stores all of my bf stuff that I need to get at. I do not use it at all anymore, I should really just take it down, but I like the option, so it will stay...

[mimi_n_tre]

Yep, baby is spoiled already...

I can get her to sleep in her crib at night, but when she wakes up about 3, she won't sleep in her crib again. She stretches and stretches until she wakes up and cries, and so she sleeps with me. She sleeps on the outside of the bed, until DH gets up at 5 and then she sleeps in the inside. DH moves way too much to put her in the middle any earlier.

[Heffernhyphen]

Horizontally. How does one who only weighs 30 pounds manage to take up an entire King Sized bed?

[Mama2ABCD]

crook of arm

[Quagmire]

Directly on the mattress. Usually she migrates over to me and ends up on her side. We start her out on her back though

[lotus.blossom]

On the mattress next to me. I usually put him low enough that I can sort of slide my arm under the pillow and still get comfortable. That way I have a grip on the pillow and it doesn't fall over onto him. Those first few days I woke up in a panic thinking he stopped breathing. But I feel better about it now.

[SabbathD]

Originally Posted by lotus.blossom

On the mattress next to me. I usually put him low enough that I can sort of slide my arm under the pillow and still get comfortable. That way I have a grip on the pillow and it doesn't fall over onto him. Those first few days I woke up in a panic thinking he stopped breathing. But I feel better about it now.

ditto!!

[Heffernhyphen]

Did any of you read Operating Instructions by Anne Lamotte? Great! She talks about one morning waking up (from the mattress on the floor she shared with her baby) and not being able to find him! Turned out he rolled off and was stuck between the mattress and the wall! He was fine.

One of the things I love about that book (and her) is how honest she is about all her screw ups like that. Makes us human moms feel SO much better about our parenting skills.

[MsGrizzle]

Thanks everyone!

So what do you do for naps? Nathan hates the Hotsling and it is soooo hot, so I put him down when sleeping if I need my hands. We used the car seat for a while. Right now, he is laying on my bed sleeping. But what happens once he starts rolling? My older ds never napped until after a year so this was never a concern for me...

[Still_Snarky]

We sleep (from left to right): dh, dd, me, ds, guardrail. 'Renzo is directly on the mattress. It's quite cozy as you might imagine but the guardrail means we can squish all the way to the edge of the bed.

As far as naps go, sometimes he sleeps in the Mai Tai, sometimes the HotSling, sometimes on the bed! Just depends on how warm it is and whether I want to nap with him or not.

[lrlittle]

DS starts out on the mattress but ends up very close to me throughout the night. A couple of times I've awakened and freaked out because I couldn't see him....he was in the crook of my arm so close that I was looking over him. :

[ashtree]

Originally Posted by Heffernhyphen

Horizontally. How does one who only weighs 30 pounds manage to take up an entire King Sized bed?

I wonder the same thing about my stepdaughter. Its pretty amazing.

Arlo sleeps in between my DH and me, by the end of the night hes in my arms, or on my tummy, or directly next to me nursing. I dont move in my sleep, so Im not worried about suffocation or anything like that (I really hate typing that word ) And we just started nursing while Im sleeping-it really works out well for the both of us.

[SabbathD]

Originally Posted by ashtree

And we just started nursing while Im sleeping-it really works out well for the both of us.

Oh side lying nursing is the BEST!!! I usually end up falling asleep and waking up at her next feeding. It has it's good and bad points, sometimes I forget in my hazy fog to change her diaper before we start eating, so she sometimes goes for a bit w/o a diaper change . But, she eats so much better in that position than any other one, mainly because it's the best for overactive letdown.

[broodymama]

Natalya sleeps on the mattress on my side of the bed. She'll chase me across the bed until she is on her side right up against me. Side lying is her best nursing position, too.

[Kritto]

Originally Posted by Heffernhyphen

Did any of you read Operating Instructions by Anne Lamotte? Great! She talks about one morning waking up (from the mattress on the floor she shared with her baby) and not being able to find him! Turned out he rolled off and was stuck between the mattress and the wall! He was fine.

One of the things I love about that book (and her) is how honest she is about all her screw ups like that. Makes us human moms feel SO much better about our parenting skills.

I haven't read it, but my mom told me that I did that very thing as a baby...there were 5-6 times where she heard noises and looked over to see little kicking legs by the wall! All that, and I still turned out fine. :-)

[momsmyjob]

Lukas sleeps right next to mama, on his side face me, just like his other 8 siblings did

[Max'sMama]

Neva's directly on the bed, next to me. We have a body pillow between dh and us. That way we can move all we want and dh who moves in his sleep, stays on his area! We have a bassinet that is used as a hamper at night. During the day she naps in the bassinet. When she is older she will nap on my bed, in the middle with pillows around bed edge, or on a small mattress on the floor. This is what we did with Max and it worked well for us!