Co-sleeping issues

[pammie1]

Hi, I am co-sleeping with my 10 week old little girl at the moment, I am breastfeeding and it is pretty much the only way I get any Z's as she has never gone down in her own basket/cot since birth and wakes to feed very frequently. At the moment we go up together at 8pm but I have to really stretch her out in the evening for this past when I know she is really tired, I want her to go up before me really but everytime I get her to sleep in bed she wakes up 10mins later. I would really like to hear if anyone else co-sleeps what their rountine is or any tips.
Also, she tends to sleep the first 3 hours or so and then wake and feed and then after this she is a nightmare waking every hour or so, I think she wants comfort to get herself back to sleep sometimes but she wont take a dummy so I end up being a human dummy! - anyone else experienced this???

 

[maldives]

Hi,
I never co sleeped but im sure many have done so.
My LO sleeped in his moses basket and as a newborn he used to wake up every 1-2 hours!! it was a nightmare, but they say boys are hungrier than girls LOL . any way it's easy to get ur LO to sleep now. wait till she's 3 months I carry him around rocking him slightly to sooth him it's a nightmare!

 

[fothers]

Hi,

Our LO is older but I nurse her to sleep on top of our bed then put a heavy pillow either side of her half way down her body to make her feel 'secure' and then a little fleecy blanket over the top, she stays like this til we go to bed then she comes under with us.

A great book that might help and is happy with co-sleeping is the No Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley.

 

[keli]

I'm in the same position! I get in bed with LO about 8 and once hes asleep i just watch tv. He wakes about half 12 for another feed then it feels like every hr after that. He wakes me up all the time as he bashes his head from side to side he justs gets my boob put back in his mouth. Sometimes i do think he just needs to settle himself but like your LO he doesn't use a dummy. I have a bedside cot but i never move him once hes fallen asleep cos i know he'll wake up! Sorry no advise really but some hugs it'll be interesting to see what replies you get xx

 

[nickilubs]

Ivy's quite fussy at times so I co-sleep with her just so she is happy I would rather her happy snuggled on my chest and me only sleeping lightly than I would go through trying to get her to sleep in her basket with her crying whist getting no sleep at all myself. A few things I have found that help her to settle is a hotwater bottle in her bed a few mins before putting her in it to warm it up a bit (obviously take it out before putting her in....plus you get to use it after its warmed her bed) and letting her suck or hold my little finger. Her baskets next to the bed so its easy for me to reach over and let her have a finger to hold whist I sleep.

She comes to bed when me and OH go to bed I find most of the time its not so much her not liking the basket but its that she doesn't like being alone she sleeps fine in the basket if she can wake up and know we are there. Some nights she does just want to be cuddled but she gets so much more sleep this way and so do we...last night she slept 6hours on my chest before waking.

 

[Clydesdaleclopper]

We co-sleep and as Q has got older the length of his sleep times has extended. What we find works best is that I feed him and then my husband puts him to bed about 9.30. He lays down with him in the bed until he goes to sleep and then leaves him there. He will then sleep until about 2.00. If he doesn't see me he will settle back to sleep easier but once he sees me all he wants is boob. He goes through phases of waking every hour - usually when he is going through a fussy phase (if you haven't got it I would highly recommend a copy of "The Wonder Weeks" as it tells you exactly when to expect this type of behaviour) but at the moment he is only waking twice a night.

I have found that he wakes up if he is too warm and seems to prefer to be cooler that one would expect (the room is about 18 degrees and he wears only a short sleeved shortie romper). When he wakes frequently my husband has him on his side of the bed for part of the night and he will go back off to sleep without boob if he doesn't realise that it is there. However Q is much older than your LO and waking that often at night is quite common.

I wouldn't worry about being a "human dummy" - IMHO it is much better for them to associate people with comfort rather than inanimate objects.

The other thing to try is once you have her asleep in bed wait a bit longer before you leave her there. You may be moving too soon when she is still in a light phase of sleep and easily disturbed.

 

[littlepip]

I co-slept up until last week pritty much and ryan didnt go to sleep till around 11.30pm! I would get him to sleep in his bouncy chair then carry him into my bed and go to bed at the same time.I never used to get any time to myself and i started work last week so i thought enough is enough and i put him down in his cot between 8-9 and he sleeps through till 7 or 8 but i havent been able to sleep since he's gone into his own cot, im waking up about 6 times a night lol!

Will she sleep in a bouncy chair maybe until ure ready to take her up to bed?

 

[pammie1]

unfortunately she wont sleep in her chair, the only way I can normally get her to sleep is nursing or in the daytime out in the pram, hubby can get her to sleep by walking around with her and singing but she wont have any of that with me! Last night took her up at 7pm after bath etc got her to sleep and left - she lasted 10mins and was a real pain for the rest of the night then, waking every hour and had much more difficulty than normal getting back to sleep. Not sure if I am encouraging worse disruption by trying to get her to go to bed earlier on her own or whether to persevere, she is def. v. tired by that time.
Think she has a sleep aversion as she always seems to be fighting it!