"Is she a good sleeper?" Well, that depends....
I admit it: We let Adara sleep in our bed. She sleeps cuddled up right next to me. Last night, she slept over 6 consecutive hours! She stirred some around 3am, but then fell back asleep. That's the beauty of having her right next to me: She just falls asleep again if she wakes up a little, because I'm her automatic comfort.
A few times we tried putting her in her bed beside us and just comforting her with rocking or my hand touching her. So far, we've slept much better with her right beside me. We decided that at this time, we value getting sleep more than trying to get her to sleep in her own bed.
After reading so much before having Adara about SIDS and not having the baby in bed with you, I was surprised to find that "sleep-sharing" is more common that I'd thought. We have friends who also have a little girl who will only sleep next to Mom, and even Dr. Sears has an article addressing the issue. Dr. Sears was recommended to me by a friend, and I only wish I'd read more before giving birth. It is reassuring to read that it is actually okay (and in some cases, beneficial) to have my baby sleep right next to me.
Someday we do want to have her sleep in her own bed and be on some kind of consistent schedule, but for now, I'm not going to worry about it too much. (Of course, right now she's sleeping beautifully in her bed right next to the closet where she can hear the heater humming away.)
Anyone have similar experiences? What worked/didn't work for you?
We have done 'family bed' since Judah was born because of the same reasons you mentioned: more sleep and comforting him. But also because in countries that practice bed sharing as their culture and custom you would find that SIDS is not even a problem nor documented. This is because the most common SIDS issue is the child doesn't remember to breath and with the parents next to said child all through the night the child has a reminder so to speak. Think of it as a metronome to breathing. Also it is know that bed sharing babies tend to sleep more often on their backs or sides and less often on their tummies, a factor that could itself lower the SIDS risk.
ReplyDeleteWe bed shared until he was 16 months since Amanda started to get less sleep because he was just rolling over and nursing every 3 hours out of habit at his point. So at this point we had decided to night wean him. We set up his crib mattress on the floor in our room and put him to sleep on it at his normal bed time. Amanda wold nurse him to sleep in most cases but after he was asleep he would have to stay in his bed from 9p to 4a in which the 'kitchen' was closed. If he would wake up between those times I would coax him back to sleep. But if it is after 4a but realistically after 3:15a, then he can come to bed with us where he can now nurse and stay in our bed were he would fall asleep either by nursing or me coaxing him on my chest. Because of this Amanda has been able to get more consecutive sleep which is very important when she has to work 12 hr shifts for her job. This has worked well for us.
Thanks! It helps to hear about others experiences and facts that affirm what I am doing!
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