Co-Sleeping Bliss

It seems almost the moment you get pregnant people start to judge...or provide you with their unsolicited opinions on everything....

Oh you are pregnant...congrats...make sure you walk every day...don't walk too much because you will get exhausted.  Don't eat spicy foods because it will irritate the baby.....eat spicy foods so the baby will enjoy a variety of foods.  OMG is she drinking a glass of wine while she is pregnant....OMG she isn't even drinking wine while pregnant she is wayy too uptight.....AGGGGGGG...and this is just where it alllll begins.  Once the baby arrives its 10x worse!

Our little Dutchman would NOT sleep at all when he was born, unless he was held.  We tried everything...I would nurse him to sleep and we would gingerly place him in the bassinet and just as we were closing our eyes...WAAAAAAAA.  We tried rocking the bassinet...putting it into the bathroom with the fan on (the white noise thing)..putting the bassinet in another room..playing music...using the blow dryer ...this one actually worked...until you shut it off.  So we basically took shifts during the night...Ivan would sit in the rocking chair for 2-3 hrs rocking the little prince while I tried to sleep and then we would switch and we did this for 5 weeks straight.  When Grandma was here, she would take a shift as well.

We got advice from everyone..and this time we were asking for it...and we tried everything everyone suggested...the swing..sleeping in the car seat, going for a car ride a walk in the stroller...until one day, I decided to bring him into bed with me..and guess what...he SLEPT...I SLEPT and Daddy SLEPT! It was like we had discovered a miracle....can you blame the little angel...almost 10 months in mamas cozy womb..of course he just wanted to be close.  I had not wanted to try the co-sleeping arrangement because so many people spoke negatively about it...but once I started telling people that we had him in the bed with us, the more and more we heard our friends were doing the same thing. 

Yes at first we were very nervous that we might roll over on him or pull the covers up too high...but I think its like parents have a sixth sense about this kind of thing.  It was a little uncomfortable, because I couldn't roll around..and I was always aware of his presence even in my sleep...but the key is...I was sleeping...which I think made me a better momma the next day because I wasn't a zombie. 

People were certainly very very judgemental about this...I got to the point I didn't want to share with others that we were co-sleeping because we would get these shocked looks, and the Oh my, you must stop doing that immediately...or I knew a girl, who's brothers, sisters, mother rolled on their child etc etc...you get the point.  You are spoiling the baby....its unhealthy...blah blah blah....I think the one lesson I have learned from the short amount of time I have been a mama is not to judge other parents.

We continued to co-sleep with our little Dutch for 5 months and now he sleeps in his crib....and I miss him terribly.  I absolutely LOVED falling asleep beside him...his smell...the little noises he made and when I would drowsily awake during the night and see this perfect little cherub sleeping so peacefully beside me...well my heart couldn't have grown much bigger then at that very moment.

We chose to co-sleep with our baby out of necessity...but looking back...I wouldn't have had it any other way.  It was one of the most special times in my life and now it is gone forever...such a brief moment in time and an experience that I will cherish forever. 

Whatever works for you and your family is okay with me...just be sure to Enjoy.