Favorite family bed advocacy items?

[dharmama]

Yet another question as I get ready for my Family Bed workshop tomorrow!! ;)

Can anyone post links to their favorite family bed advocacy items?

I have www.littleearthangels.com (DD has the "no need to count sheep" tee :thumb). Just wondering if there are any more out there!

Thanks!!

~Erin
:love

[dharmama]

I found a few more advocacy tee sites (searched on the diapering forum for cloth advocacy)...

Little Earth Angels (www.littleearthangels.com)
Granola Threads (www.granolathreads.com)
Jack’s Magic Beanstalk (www.jacksmagicbeanstalk.com)
Cookie Pants (www.cookiepants.com)

[DWAXSMOM]

http://www.breastorbust.com. I love the cage free one!

[eirual]

those are some great sites!

[2Sweeties1Angel]

I sell some onesies occasionally on eBay. I have one that says "100% Cage Free". I don't have any auctions going right now since I'm "on vacation" (meaning I got tired of dealing with people for awhile). Here's a link to a closed auction so you can see what I'm talking about:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=79714&item=4827406409

[Glover_Girls]

Just curious...what is a family bed workshop?

Of my friends and family, I am the only who bedshares and nursed until my child was 3 and did embraces natural parenting, etc. I just found this site and I'm so thrilled to find other like minded mamas because at times I've so needed advice!!

[dharmama]

I started a birth network last year. We cover topics related to gentle birth/parenting issues by having meetings each month.

This past weekend the topic was the "Joys (and challenges ;-) of the Family Bed."

Lots of wonderful MDC mamas sent me pictures of their family bed and I showed a slide show of them!!! :love

Then I talked about safety considerations when setting up a family bed....ideas to help remain physically/emotionally connected to your partner during demanding early months (years :o ) of parenting....ways to expand your bed (co-sleeper, side-car crib, mattress on the floor etc.)...ideas for transitioning out of the family bed and finally some quotes from children, teens and young adults who grew up in a family bed.

It was a lot of fun!! :)

[Glover_Girls]

Erin, that sounds fabulous!! I would have loved to attend that workshop. I always feel like I'm flying solo here as until I found this site (just this week), I really had no one to ask advice. My family and friends would just roll their eyes and say things like, "are you going to keep your kid in your bed until she's grown up?" or "when are you going to break that habit?" And you can imagine the comments when I nursed until age 3!!

Anyway, I've been looking for ideas for help with transitioning out of my bed. Not because I want her out, but more about whether there is a time for encouraging independent sleeping. I'm thinking of moving her bed (which she doesn't sleep in) into my room so we'll share a room. Also, I'd love to hear what kids who grew up in a family bed had to say!!

[dharmama]

Anyway, I've been looking for ideas for help with transitioning out of my bed. Not because I want her out, but more about whether there is a time for encouraging independent sleeping. I'm thinking of moving her bed (which she doesn't sleep in) into my room so we'll share a room. Also, I'd love to hear what kids who grew up in a family bed had to say!!

You might want to check out the book "Good Nights" by Jay Gordon and Maria Goodavage. I quoted from it a lot at my workshop...great book! :thumb

There is a whole chapter of ideas for transitioning from the family bed.

Our DD is quite a bit younger than yours but we recently made the transition to part-time co-sleeping as we are getting ready to add to the family in a few weeks. We put a futon mattress on the floor in DD's room and one of us lays (lies?) down with her in it until she falls asleep (if it's me...I totally fall asleep and end up spending half the night in there, but DH somehow manages to stay awake). She's welcome to come into our bed any time during the night...sometimes it's midnight...most nights it's between 3-5 a.m.

I read the book "The Cuddlers" with her which shows the kids coming into the parents' bed in the middle of the night and I think that helped to give her the idea because the first night we read it I awoke to her next to me saying "mama come up" in the tiniest little voice. It was so cute! :love

Oh and the comments from grown family bedders were great. I don't think I can paste them here because they are from a copyrighted book but basically they all -- from age 6 to age 22+ -- talked about the closeness that they feel with their parents....the safety and security they felt in their parents' bed....the great converstations that they had while snuggling etc. :love