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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, if you’re still reading this, don’t beat yourself up if you do want to sleep train. The options are basically, sleep train, cosleep, or be sleep deprived. I sleep trained my kids. They’re fine. [/quote]

Can you explain how cosleeping helps? We actually cosleep but it doesn’t stop baby from waking up. It is easier than taking him out of crib though[/quote]

Again there are 2 sides to this. People who think sleep is developmental and children will sleep through the night when they are ready and people who think sleep is a learned behavior and must be taught. Kids who are sleep trained do NOT sleep through the night - no human does. Every single person on this planet wakes multiple times a night but they go back to sleep. Sleep training believes that babies must learn to self-soothe when they wake also known as "connecting sleep cycles" so that when they wake, because they do!, they put themselves back to sleep without the assistance of an adult. Sleep training can also be combined with elimination of nighttime feeds, however, many people will state that children should be sleeping 10-12 hours overnight when the definition of STTN is 5-7 hours. For example, if baby goes to sleep at 8 and wakes at 2, and eats a bottle or nurses and then sleeps for 3 hours (530) nurses/bottle and goes back to sleep/wakes for the day- that is all biologically normal and although you may not have slept for 8 hours your child did STTN.

Cosleeping is two different thing- bedsharing or roomsharing. Room sharing includes have a crib or even toddler bed in the room. Bedsharing is sharing a bed. There are safe ways to bedshare to mitigate the most cited reason against sharing, which is suffocation. Dr. James McKenna has a lab at University of ND that studies this. I would really suggest visiting his website for information [url]https://cosleeping.nd.edu/[/url]. 
The biggest thing is firm surface, no blankets, no pillows, no medications that alter perception (alcohol, THC, some rx meds) and no SOFA or Recliner sleeping.

Cosleeping is not a panacea for parents but it did make our journey easier as I nursed and then fell back asleep- there was no getting up and sitting in the recliner, staying awake, putting him back down and then winding down myself again. Nighttime feedings werent disruptive so I wasnt in a hurry to remove them. I did track my sleep using a FitBit so this isnt me just stating that I didnt feel tired and therefore got rest. I am a high sleep needs person (>7.5hours) so getting appropriate sleep was important to me.

Prolactin levels are at their highest overnight so by nursing through the night your supply is more/better regulated and production levels are at their highest during the early morning hours so lots of milk is being produced. Prolactin also increases bonding and attachment. Nighttime breastmilk also has higher levels of melatonin and babies dont produce melatonin for quite a few months so it helps regulate their circadian rhythms. Nighttime breastmilk also has high levels of serotonin and tryptophan.

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