Co-sleeping safely

EmilyB · Dec 20, 2009 2:52PM

I know lots of us are ending up with our babies sleeping in our own beds with us due to various reasons. I do, but it scares me! I'm resorting to it at least once a night just to get some sleep and relief from the crying! I'm feeding Jak in bed right now and I just know it'll be a fight to get him into his basket when he's finished, so I may let him stay in our bed from now instead of waiting till about 3am.

How are you ladies managing to co-sleep safely? My biggest concerns are:

- the duvet. Surely it's not ok to have it over him? I try to keep it off him as much as possible, but sometimes I wake up and it's on him. I'm petrified of him overheating!

- hubby and me rolling onto him. I'm so so so scared this might happen. How do you stop it?

I'd love any tips, I'm slightly reluctant to post this in Baby in case I start a massive row about whether it's ok or really risky to co-sleep.

Em + Jak

sarah_jane77 · Dec 17, 2009 5:14AM

Hi Em

Have you seen the jojo maman bebe website, there is a thing on there which is for co-sleeping safely. its somewhere for the baby to sleep whilst in your bed safely. I'm not sure of the price but may help with your peace of mind. There was a thread about it somewhere

sarah

EmilyB · Dec 17, 2009 6:35AM

Thanks hon, I'll look later when I have a minute (:lol

x x x

Em + Jak x x x

Coco-25 · Dec 17, 2009 6:48AM

Hi,
G/C from September.

I ended up bringing my LO into bed quite often in the first month - not out of choice but because he just would not settle anywhere else! I also stressed about it and to be honest didn't sleep well anyway because I had the same worries! By the way, please don't think this is forever - my LO (14 weeks) would now much rather be in his cot than with me!

Duvet - you're right, the duvet should not be over/on your baby. Make sure he has a light blanket but no more as he will get a lot of heat from you.

Rolling onto him - I made sure he was always on my side, never inbetween DH and I. My DH is a heavy sleeper and was not as aware as I was of LO being there and it definitely wouldn't have been safe to have him in the middle.

Also make sure the pillows are nowhere near.

I assure you that eventually your LO will be happy sleeping in his cot! xx

summer_76 · Dec 17, 2009 8:34AM

snuggle nest - about ??40 - jojo website. babe in arms hence brief! xxxx

summer_76 · Dec 17, 2009 8:54AM

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUMMER-SNUGGLE-NEST-PROTECTIVE-INFANT-SLEEPER-NEW_W0QQitemZ190357333173QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Baby_NurseryBedding_RL?hash=item2c522e64b5

evab1 · Dec 17, 2009 4:10PM

I don't fuss too much. Have baby either side of me and had no problems. My first lo slept in bed til ten months when she fell out but by that point she was walking so was her own fault

Duvet is off as far as possible without me freezing. I wear a cardigan in bed so my arms are warm. I don't move in sleep and seem to be aware of hubby moving as I always wake up if he comes near us and push him away. Only happens on the rarest of occasions. Zach was actually feeling pretty cold last night even tho he was in bed with us so I had 2 blankets on him plus a little bit of duvet and my body heat. I don't know how the jojo thing would work for me as the whole point with zach seems to be skin contact more than anything and this wouldn't allow it. Worth a try tho Don't knwo if this helps but its what I did last time too. At the mo he's in moses basket so might get a bit of time to myself tonight x

mummabear-72331 · Dec 17, 2009 4:56PM

When we have done it the duvet comes off. Im too paranoid about it plus I find hubby and I sleeping with our own separate blankets helps stop us rolling on to him. We have Brody in the middle of us on his lambswool and position him well below the pillows. He has his usual 2 blankets on him. We have our own separate blankets which we tuck under ourselves so that they cant fall on to his face at any time during the night. We also prop his lambswool up on each side by rolling up some small blankets (bunny rugs as my mum calls them) so if we did roll in our sleep we would hit them, and not him. Through the night, whether in our bed or in his moses basket, Brody wriggles downwards. He can start just below our pillows and end up half way down the bed (his blankets wriggle with him)!! So more reason why we don't have the duvet on our bed with him in there.

xx

EmilyB · Dec 18, 2009 12:47PM

It's like being pregnant again - must only sleep in one position!

Thanks for all the advice, we're just going to keep doing what we're doing.

I'm also a bad mummy because Jak seems so much more settled sleeping on his front, so I let him last night for about 2 hours. 10 minutes after I turned him over he woke up crying again. Arg!!!

Lentil · Dec 20, 2009 2:52PM

isobel won't settle back in her cot between feeds at night (although she'll spend hours in her crib downstairs during the day). She sleeps between us - the duvet is raised up by us so is no-where near her and she seems warm and cosy in this position and sleeps on her back (she prefers her front in the cot). Hubby says he sleeps more lightly knowing she is there and I don't move much having been used to being on one side during pregnancy and the c-section makes rolling uncomfortable so I wake up before moving. This is allowing us some sleep at night as we were forever comforting her when she woke up in the cot so had a really disturbed night. Hoping she grows out of it!
Lentil & Isobel 13 days

** The hospital gave us this leaflet which may help - http://www.babyfriendly.org.uk/pdfs/sharingbedleaflet.pdf **

[Modified by: Lentil on December 21, 2009 03:15 PM]

Co-sleeping safely

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