safe co-sleeping rules - do you break them?

[Lalaith]

A friend and I were talking about this today. It seems we're both breaking some sort of rule of co-sleeping by letting our babies be under the covers next to us.

At my house, our bedroom is warm enough that we usually only have a sheet over us, and I cover my DD with it too, up to her waist or so. I'm wondering how many other people have their babies under the covers. I have read to safely co-sleep you shouldn't have any pillows or blankets on the bed, and that seems extreme! How would anyone sleep like that? We have a fan going in our room all night for the white noise, and the circulating air can be a bit chilly without a sheet to cover us. DD is swaddled, so I'm not worried about her getting tangled in the sheets. Plus, I'd have to be in a coma for her to get tangled in the sheets one inch from me with half her body against mine!

What do you guys think? Are there other "safe co-sleeping" rules you break?

[saimeiyu]

I take naps on my couch with dd... but I'm only ever half asleep b/c I have to keep an eye on my naughty puppy. so I guess rather than nap I kind of doze with her on the couch sometimes.
We also have pillows-- I use a boppy as my pillow--best one I ever used, even though it says "do no sleep on this pillow", no idea why, though. We also each have our own light blanket. Also I will let her sleep on my bed while I get up to grab some water, go to the bathroom, or what have you. Sometimes I even sew while she sleeps in my bed... but my sewing machine isn't ten feet from her, so I don't know if that counts. But she's alone on the bed!

[amrijane128]

DD sometimes sleeps alone. We didn't have pillows for a long time, but we just recently put them back on, and let me say.... they are a God send!

[MadameXCupcake]

I thought we were the only bad ones.
>.>

I have a 3 wk old.
My husband has a very manual job, so if he is over exhausted he sleeps on the couch.
I use a pillow, just one now, I used to use like three.
And I have a sheet.
We keep the fan on at night, I really can not sleep with out it.
My babe either sleeps a few inches from me on her back, with the sheet pulled up half way, or she sleeps in my arm pit.
Usually the first two hours she sleeps the few inches away from me, than at some point she wakes up, and I watch her roll over to her tummy and wiggle over. Its so cute. Then the remainder of the night she is on me, or in my armpit eating till 6am.
I keep the sheet tucked under the mattress so it really cant go anywhere.
I am an extremely light sleeper, and we've had no problems.

[Artichokie]

I've never heard of these rules! Where did you read them?

[marcimoose]

our son is usually under the blankets w/ us. he's 6 mo now. at first he had a separate blanket. i used a pillow and just kept him away from it. now i don't worry about the pillows.

[2sweetboysmom]

I think I have broken all the "rules" at least once and some of the "rules" every day....I have a down comforter on my bed : though I only cover my 8 month old up to his waist. He basically sleeps in my armpit...Which is also breaking a "rule" because I am a DDD.
This is my third and they are all happy and healthy despite breaking the "rules"

[lilmissimpatient@c]

Erm...I think we broke all the rules everyday. DD slept between DH and I, under a blanket pulled up to her middle, and he and I both used pillows.

[Lalaith]

Thanks for the replies, they're fun to read!

I don't even know where I read/heard these rules. They've just seeped in from various places.

Another one we break (this is just a baby sleeping rule) is that DD has a sheepskin in her moses basket, which she sleeps on when she'll tolerate sleeping away from me.

I do worry a little that when she nurses at night, she wiggles nearly onto her tummy, kind of leaning against my body. Because she's swaddled, it makes me a little nervous since she wouldn't be able to push herself up if she got tucked in too close to me on her tummy and for some reason I didn't notice. Sometimes she pulls off the breast and nuzzles right up into my armpit almost on her tummy, so she's breathing this tiny pocket of air in my armpit. I try to roll her to her back or move her so she's got more breathing room, but she always wants to go back there. I get all worried she's just breathing her own carbon dioxide. The things you can find to worry about in the middle of the night!!

[rmzbm]

We don't have any rules, so nothing to break.

We just go to bed as normal...we sleep no differently with kids than without.

[jjawm]

There are a lot of 'rules' for safe-cosleeping. Just google it.

And we break them, some at least, and most now that dd is older. We have blankets, but separate ones for each of us. We use pillows, as does she (she's a year and a half). When she was tiny, though, I was so nervous to have her sleep with a blanket.

[Twinklefae]

Originally Posted by lilmissimpatient@c

Erm...I think we broke all the rules everyday. DD slept between DH and I, under a blanket pulled up to her middle, and he and I both used pillows.

Yup. Although DS alternates sides, based on which breast he's nursing from. We've had blankets right up to his neck sometimes... it's COLD here, and we live in a drafty house. One night when the power was out.. :

I don't worry about it. I also let DS sleep on his tummy.

[Fletchersmama]

Originally Posted by rmzbm

We don't have any rules, so nothing to break.

We just go to bed as normal...we sleep no differently with kids than without.

Very well said!

pillows, blankets, sibling, at one time cats, two parents - all in the bed together, and my new babe loves to sleep with her face tucked UNDER my breast - it doesn't matter how many times I move her - she wiggles back.

[MilkTrance]

We have broken pretty much all of the "rules" -- although when DS was very small, we were far more strict.

[zensven42]

rules schmules

I am not sure who made these rules and why they should apply to me, but it seems lots of people can't get enough of regulating other people. They love to protect people from themselves....yeesh

Anybody who cares about their children will use common sense and caution


Kristin Skrydlak-Simlai

[Magali]

We didn't start bed sharing till baby was 5 months but we have pillows galore and a nice cozy blanket.

[CorasMama]

I have a photo of then-4-mo-old DD, in bed without me, where I had left her with my then-boyfriend, not her dad, so I could go take a shower. They just looked so cute all wrapped up in blankets with 4+ pillows on the bed, i ust had to take a snapshot! that's um... 6 rules broken, maybe 7? Then again, 10 yrs ago, there were no such rules published.

[butterfly_mommy]

Originally Posted by zensven42

rules schmules

I am not sure who made these rules and why they should apply to me, but it seems lots of people can't get enough of regulating other people. They love to protect people from themselves....yeesh

Anybody who cares about their children will use common sense and caution


Kristin Skrydlak-Simlai

:

Lets see the "rules" we break, well we sleep with a feather duvet on the bed that I cover DS up with and we sleep with two full size and two travel size feather pillows, sometimes DS sleeps between DH and I but snuggled up to my big pendulous boob, sometimes DS sleeps in his side cared crib on his belly oh yeah and DH and I are both plus sized.

However I am hyper aware of DS and wake before he does when he needs to eat, DS actually does "sleep" through the night because he can sleep eat , I do keep the pillows away from DS and sleep with my arm between DS and my pillow. DH sleeps with a memory foam body pillow against his lower half as a roll bumper and I always wake DH up to tell him I am putting DS between us. I call the way we sleep safe risks

[lindsayjean]

Originally Posted by lilmissimpatient@c

Erm...I think we broke all the rules everyday. DD slept between DH and I, under a blanket pulled up to her middle, and he and I both used pillows.

Same here.

[wondertwins]

Yes, we're rule breakers. I guess I didn't comprehend that the "no pillows" rule went for adults, as well as babes. I can't imagine how much more sleep deprived I would be if we had followed that one. We do start out with separate blankets, but by morning we're all sharing. They also nap on our bed alone, with blankets and pillows as a buffer between them and the edge of the bed.

Not to high jack this thread, but when do the "rules" no longer apply? I was just wondering about this the other day, as my twins will be 1 in two months. Is their birthday a magical day when I no longer have to fret about SIDS? I've done the google search, but haven't found anything conclusive that states why SIDS is a risk until 12 months.