32 weeks and planning for co- sleep!!!

One day left until I am thirty two weeks pregnant!

 I feel big as a house. I've gained well over the recommended amount of weight. Well over..but I take comfort in knowing next to none of it was in empty calories. I didn't have any major junk food binges. An occasional milk and cookies craving but not very often. Matt and I finally gave up trying to share a bed other then for watching television. Its impossible for either one of us to get any good rest. I take up a huge amount of room and Matteo really enjoys kicking his daddy most of the night. So we are in twin beds for now,which I find very cute in that I Love Lucy kind of way. 

 

I am seriously thinking about sleeping arrangements when Matteo is born. I owned a crib with all of my children...I'd say more for decorative purposes because they next to never slept in it, I used it as a playpen or changing table from time to time but even then, it was never worth the cost of buying for how little we used it. Because my babies breastfed for the first year, as I intend for Matteo to also do, it was so much easier to have them not only in the same room, but yes, co-sleeping. I know..GASP! I can hear many of my readers shaking their heads in disapproval. Those who wants to educate themselves further about the benefits verses risks of co-sleeping should looking deeply into my favorite baby doctor..Dr. Sears and attachment parenting. For now I want to talk about the many products that have come out since my early days of mommy hood and co-sleeping.

I had a failed experience as a fifteen year old mommy, with my daughter. I was trying to keep the bassinet snug against my bed. I'd had a c-section and getting up to get her to nurse was very painful. Well I managed to fall asleep nursing her and she landed between the bassinet and the bed, not on the floor, just in between. I heard her make a little squeak and there she was. Epic bad mommy moment. This was in 1995. 

In 1998 when I had my first son, I again tried the bassinet and the crib because my now toddler daughter was still in the bed with me. I wasnt comfortable with him in his room far away and he fussed in the bassinet. My kids always wanted to be in my arms and then there was the getting up to nurse almost hourly. 

By 2001 when I had my second son, I had just manged to get my two older children into their own rooms to sleep. I said forget it, he had a crib but slept in my bed exclusively til around age two when he wanted to sleep with his brother or sister or in his own toddler bed. Sometimes all three kids would drag their little mattresses into my room and sleep scattered around my bed which was fine with me too.

The back lash to co-sleeping was how very little sleep I actually got. Between breast feeding on demand and the crazy positions babies like to sleep in, and the fact that NONE of my children slept through the night until age three..I was blessed that I was a mostly stay at home mom with the ability to nap when they did. 

 With Matteo, I will be returning to work and Matt is in school full time, and will be be working part time. Sleep is crucial. Yet, I want Matteo to  be just as close. I noticed a long with the huge safety campaign in regards to co-sleeping, there are a lot of new products that allow baby to be close and safe, almost in bed but not..and will most likely allow just a little better sleep for mom and dad. I love these options because they are far better than my early tries of a bassinet tucked plush against the bed. 

Right now I am surfing the web comparing reviews and safety of each co-sleeping product option. I've asked a number of moms. I am thinking this is the way we will go.

For more info on the benefits of co-sleeping and safety visit the following links:

http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/sleep-problems/scientific-benefits-co-sleeping

http://cosleeping.nd.edu/safe-co-sleeping-guidelines/