Question for Those Who Co-Sleep

[Anonymous]

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/11897.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you have co slept with your baby you will not know how light you are going to sleep with that little one next to you. I never feared rolling on my baby, I did fear my husband would, but not me. I did not go to bed, drugged, drunk or fat. three things that can harm a baby if you choose to co sleep. Of course there are the few that did get rolled on and died, but the overwhelming majority do just fine co sleeping. As to the op original question, I think those that co sleep do so from the beginning and the babies are use to sleeping with the parents and not climbing over them. Neither one of mine ever tried to climb out of our bed, but maybe I was lucky. I can see a child that is not used to sleeping with you being a little confused as to where they are if they wake up in the night. They most likely climb around the crib too.

I promise I'm not trying to stir things up, but I have a real question. I'm not in the cosleep camp, so I won't pretend I am. If you have any fear at all, in your case, your husband rolling over on your baby, why would you even take that risk? I understand your a light sleeper, but is that stress worth it?

Why are parents always trying to tell other parents what to do with their babies?

If you are worried about co-sleeping, then don't do it. If you want to co-sleep, make sure you have taken adequate precautions: keep soft pillows, toys and comforters away from the baby, use a bed rail, make sure there's no gap between the bed and wall where the baby could get lodged, make sure you don't drink or use drugs before going to sleep with your child in bed with you. Put the baby to sleep on his back. And if your child climbs over you, maybe it's not the best idea to try to co-sleep. Do you roll off the bed in the middle of the night? If not, you are not going to roll over on your baby. Your body's awareness of what's surrounding it, even in sleep, will prevent that. If you are drunk or on drugs, that's a different story. And if you are obese, that might be a problem as well.

And yes, there are advantages to co-sleeping. Everyone gets more rest if the baby sleeps, instead of screaming half the night because he wants to be with his parents. Some babies are not ready to sleep on their own, and if that's OK with the parents, why should anyone else have a problem with it?

[Anonymous]

Actually, fear of SIDS is one of the reasons that we chose co-sleeping. Research shows that babies learn to regulate their breathing based on that of their parents. If the baby wasn't in the room with us, I'd bolt awake every couple hours and run down the hall to her room. I got over it, of course! Finally, co-sleeping and breastfeeding are very easy and natural to do together.

[Anonymous]

My child climbed out of his crib and fell on his head when he was about 13 months old (his mattress was as low as possible -- he was very agile) I researched falls from cribs and realized that the crib was NOT a safe place for him to be. I could have put one of those mesh nets over him, but I didn't feel those were safe either. Did you hear the most recent, tragic story about those nets:

A Harvard family is in mourning after their little boy died during the Christmas holiday in Maine.

NewsCenter 5's Rhondella Richardson reported that the 2-year-old strangled to death when he became entangled in the mesh netting that was placed over the top of his portable crib.

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/newsarchive/18376786/detail.html

That doesn't mean that the cribs are unsafe, just that the nets used over them can be.

Anyhow, having my child sleep with me, on a mattress on the floor, in a babyproof room, seemed to be the best possibly place for him. I never worried a bit.

[Anonymous]

We have a 2.5 year old in bed with us that has been there his whole life (well, he starts off in his bed and comes to join us sometime during the night.) He sleeps between us and yes, sometimes he is a bed hog - but thankfully we have a king sized bed - and we don't mind the occassional kick in the ribs!

He has only crawled over one of us 1x in his sleep (he was about 10m) and fell to the floor (I think he was sleeping on top of my DH and when he rolled over - plop.) He cried because he was annoyed he was woken and fell back asleep quickly - we on the other hand were a wreck. But that is the only time he's fallen out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unless you have co slept with your baby you will not know how light you are going to sleep with that little one next to you. I never feared rolling on my baby, I did fear my husband would, but not me. I did not go to bed, drugged, drunk or fat. three things that can harm a baby if you choose to co sleep. Of course there are the few that did get rolled on and died, but the overwhelming majority do just fine co sleeping. As to the op original question, I think those that co sleep do so from the beginning and the babies are use to sleeping with the parents and not climbing over them. Neither one of mine ever tried to climb out of our bed, but maybe I was lucky. I can see a child that is not used to sleeping with you being a little confused as to where they are if they wake up in the night. They most likely climb around the crib too.

I promise I'm not trying to stir things up, but I have a real question. I'm not in the cosleep camp, so I won't pretend I am. If you have any fear at all, in your case, your husband rolling over on your baby, why would you even take that risk? I understand your a light sleeper, but is that stress worth it?

Why are parents always trying to tell other parents what to do with their babies?

If you are worried about co-sleeping, then don't do it. If you want to co-sleep, make sure you have taken adequate precautions: keep soft pillows, toys and comforters away from the baby, use a bed rail, make sure there's no gap between the bed and wall where the baby could get lodged, make sure you don't drink or use drugs before going to sleep with your child in bed with you. Put the baby to sleep on his back. And if your child climbs over you, maybe it's not the best idea to try to co-sleep. Do you roll off the bed in the middle of the night? If not, you are not going to roll over on your baby. Your body's awareness of what's surrounding it, even in sleep, will prevent that. If you are drunk or on drugs, that's a different story. And if you are obese, that might be a problem as well.

And yes, there are advantages to co-sleeping. Everyone gets more rest if the baby sleeps, instead of screaming half the night because he wants to be with his parents. Some babies are not ready to sleep on their own, and if that's OK with the parents, why should anyone else have a problem with it?

Wow. Kind of defensive when I was just wondering if her fear of husband rolling over on child was worth it. She said it, and I was wondering. You mentioned some babies are not ready. Ok, what about 3 or 4 year olds. If all they ever know is sleeping with mom and dad, how do you know there not ready? We can have a diplomatic debate without getting nasty. I hope the site turns into a place where differing opinions are debated in a way that let's both sides open their eyes a little bit.