im have some trouble getting my newborn daughter to sleep in anything but a bouncy seat. which is probably no good but she wakes up the second i put her in her bassinet. she sleeps really well with me tho. so i was wondering if anyone practices co sleeping with their babies, and as i am a really hard sleeper , how they make it safe?
in a hospital booklet titled (you and your newborn; the first month) it recommends co-sleeping as it facilitates longer breast feeding (if thats what you're doing) shortly after I read that though, there was an article in the paper stating that the chance of SID rises when co-sleeping. They make a product especially for co-sleeping that has little rails on each side and fits on your bed... I also know that if you're a smoker, co sleeping isnt recommended. I personally co-slept with both my boys, and never had any problems but, im also a light sleeper.
why would the risk be higher if you smoke? we do smoke but outside, do u think it just means around the baby?
no -it specifically states in the first book i mentioned, that even if you never smoke around the baby it is still dangerous to co-sleep, I'm not entirely sure why to be honest with you. Perhaps the carcinogens and other poisons come out of your pores?! I really dont know...
it's possible. My mom told me she co-slept with all three of her children and she has always been a heavy smoker, then again they didnt know as much about the negative effects of smoking back then. My grandma(also a heavy smoker+ a co-sleeper) says she used to breast feed and smoke at the same time "all my kids grew up just fine, those dr's dont know what they're talking about" lol...my how times have changed. I would suggest to follow your instinct, the general consensus is for baby to sleep in a crib(after 3 months) with only a light blanket (use of bumpers is now frowned upon due to sid's too) it can be tough to get baby to do this at first and usually takes a few nights of leaving him cry for awhile in there (sometimes it takes up to an hour of crying before he falls asleep, but comforting him by singing or rubbing his tummy helps!) but within a week of consistently doing this he will start to go straight to sleep without any problems. I know for myself developing a consistent routine was key, bath, cereal, milk bed.
I'm a co-sleeping parent to a two year old. She's been co-sleeping part-time for the past 6 months, and before that, she co-slept full-time from birth. I did a lot of research on this topic, mostly pulling from Dr. Bill Sears and Dr. James McKenna. The first, a reknowned pediatrician, the second a leading researcher in the phenomena of mother-infant sleep patterns. 1. Co-sleeping does not increase the risk of SIDS. The research that comes to this conclusion lumps responsible co-sleepers into a group consisting of those that sleep on couches with babies, in waterbeds, on unstable beds with crevices where babies can roll and get caught, those that drink/do drugs/smoke and then sleep with baby. That right there really messes with those statistics/ 2. Biologically, co-sleeping can REDUCE the risk of SIDS. Your newborn comes out with all 10 fingers and 10 toes, but has to learn how to breathe and regulate body temperature. The best way for baby to learn these things is from your body. As you hold baby against your body, you instictly breathe which reminds baby to breathe as well. As well as your body temperature helping to maintain a warm body temperature for baby, helping it learn to self-regulate. Sids, in other cultures, is known as cot-death, crib-death, and shot-death (vaccines). They don't call it cosleeping-death. Because co-sleeping is the norm in other societies. 3. Dr. Sears has a good book on co-sleeping, called the Night-time Parenting book. But the basics are easy: Have a firm mattress, with no crevices where baby can roll and get caught. Sleep with minimal pillows and blankets. Baby should be in warm, but not over-warm pyjamas. Don't drink, take drugs, or smoke around baby and then co-sleep. The rules are easy. All common sense. 4. I was a horrid sleeper before M was born. I tossed and turned. I was all over the mattress. I slept like a tank. However, once a woman becomes a mother, their biological sleep-pattern changes drastically. You start to sleep most of your sleep in the lightest cycles, so you are hyper-aware. Dr. Mckenna consistently finds that mothers wake up almost a second before their baby wakes to eat or diaper change. The whole process of motherhood transition doesn't end at birth. Co-sleeping is a natural, biological process. Don't worry about anything going wrong. Follow the rules, and you'll both feel better. Happy sleeping to you! And congrats on the babe!
