I never thought I would join the co-sleeping party. EVER! I’ve written about this before. I was stubborn, opinionated and annoying. The realities of co-sleeping are nothing like I imagined. Snuggling and cuddling? Waking up to my cute little man’s face slowly?
Not at all!
A friend said to me recently: you never know if it’s how you parent or just how your kids are, when I comes to how they eat, sleep or just generally behave! I’ve gone from two girls who could self settle and slept very well to a baby boy that will just cry and wake at least twice a night for milk. It’s not unmanageable but it’s different and co-sleeping keeps me sane and well rested. Is that just him? Or have I been more chilled out and lazy?!
But there are certain realities to co-sleeping and not all of it is wonderful and certainly not just waking up to your cute baby’s face every morning!
- As they get older, the get more wriggly they get! I started out with this newborn who never moved. Now I wake up to being kicked and slapped in the back at 5am! His smiley face is worth it though.
- Your body is not your own. My little man literally takes my boob in his hands to find it and get some milk. He’s got very adept.
- The bed gets puked in. Too much milk eh? Quite often I’ll roll over into a fresh milky patch. The joys! I’m often thinking I’ll be browsing new Mattresses with Bed Guru.
- It’s a squash! There is no denying this. My hubby was sleeping in the spare room for a while and that was ok but when he moved back: squish time! Sleeping on the end of the bed. Sleeping like an actual pencil and being very hot!!
- You have to get imaginative and schedule in the grown-up time! Well that’s not going to happen with a baby in the bed is it?
- You do start to wonder will it never end?! I know the little man is my last baby and I know he isn’t the best sleeper. I also know I’ve not fed my girls past 12 months but I wonder will I ever stop breastfeeding my little milk monster and will I ever get him in his cot all night? And secondly, does it matter?!
I’m trying to stay fairly easy going. I’m almost a co-sleeping virgin, as not done it a lot with my girls before. I know people who have co-slept for years. And that’s ok. Everyone says he won’t still be with me when he’s 18!
Will he?
I’m going with the co-sleeping flow and see where it takes me!
Disclosure – this is a collaborative post.
