How do you do it?

[Chelly2003]

OK, this is my third baby, but the first who's insisted on sleeping next to mommy, my other children were just fine in the bassinet next to the bed.
My problem is, besides not being able to sink into my nice deep sleep, I end up trying to stay in the same position all night, with DD kinda under my arm with the booby right in her face (just the way she likes it!) but I wake up stiff, sore and exhausted in the morning, I'm used to tossing around when I sleep, or at least moving ever hour or so into a more comfortable position - this staying in one place is KILLING me.

How do you do it ? DO you stay in the same place, not moving all night?

[Daffodil]

Well, at first I pretty much had to stay in one place, because dd seemed to wake up any time I moved. And, as you've noticed, that's really uncomfortable. It was one of the big reasons I really liked to have dd sleep in her bassinet as much as possible. But when she was around 3 months old, she stopped staying asleep for any sustained amount of time in the bassinet, so we started cosleeping all the time. And fortunately, I soon was able to get her used to having me move away from her after she fell asleep.

I used Elizabeth Pantley's suggestion (from No-Cry Sleep Solution) for babies who have to have the nipple in their mouth to sleep. Lindy wasn't exactly in that category, but she would usually keep sucking for a while after she was asleep, and preferred to have her face right next to my breast even when she wasn't sucking.

Once she was asleep, I'd do what Pantley suggested - use my finger to detach her from the nipple, then wait a minute to see if she settled down and went to sleep, or just kept rooting more and more frantically for the nipple, and if she was getting frantic I'd just let her nurse some more. At first, it took lots of tries before she'd finally just go to sleep after I detached her, but before long she got used to it and it didn't usually bother her - or she'd just detach herself as she fell asleep. As part of the detaching process, I'd also roll her over onto her back and then move myself far enough away that I could get into a comfortable position, and she soon started to stay asleep when I did that.

We sleep a little distance apart most of the night, but there are times we still sleep snuggled together in the nursing position, too. Towards morning, she's always slept more lightly and woken more easily, so I'll often just stay next to her then so she's less likely to keep waking up and disturbing my sleep. And sometimes I'm sleepy enough that when I nurse her in the middle of the night I just fall asleep before she's done and end up sleeping in the same position for a while.