Snugglebugs

[KCwife]

My DD#2, age 7 1/2, STILL climbs into my bed almost everynight.

She is still so easy to cuddle. No good advice from me, other than to say there are few things left in life I enjoy as much as snuggling my babies.

I'm not a fan of letting them sleep w/us when they're that tiny. DH sleeps like he's dead and uses a ton of pillows, so I'm always afraid. NOW, on the other hand, I LOVE it when Quinn comes to sleep with me. He was doing it every night - but now that we've gotten the bunk beds, he's only come in one night!

[Flynn]

I'm very anti co-sleeping for ME. I realize it works really well for others.

For me, I knew way too many people where it caused more problems than it solved so our kids never slept in our room or our bed - EVER.

Actually I took two naps with DD and three naps with DS so I guess the above statement isn't completely true.

I couldn't wait for DS to "grow up a little" even though he is more than likely our last, because for me it is SO MUCH MORE FUN after the first 12 months...but that's me.

I swear if I could skip the birth, healing, and first 12 months...I'd be a mother of at least three.

[DCJenn]

Flynn- Welcome to the beauty if international adoption! As much as I think it would have been great to have him as a young infant (for his sake) I'm glad he was nearly walking, talking, popped all of his teeth in six weeks, and could entertain himself.

Of course going from zero to toddler is a mind trip but I would imagine going from zero to anything is a mind trip.

Back to the topic at hand, a lot of the 'experts' in adoption recommend keeping the children in your room (at a minimum) but I'm old enough to recongize that I'm much better equipped for parenting with uninterupted sleep. and he was so excited to not have to share his crib (he had at least two other kids in his crib at any given time in the orphanage) that he made like a 'snow angel' every time we put him in bed for a LONG time. with a huge grin on his face.

Jenn

DS slept in our room (his crib was next to the bed) till he was 6 months. We ended up moving him to his own room at 6 months because we started having problems with DH's alarm clock waking him up in the morning. I can't tell you how hard it was for both me AND my husband to move him. I also slept with him in our bed during naps and if DH was home during naptime, DS would usually sleep on his chest. I have to say...some of my fondest memories are of him sleeping with me.

Do what feels right to you. If you love to cuddle with her....do it. You can't ever get this time back and I don't think you'll regret cuddling with her too much. You won't cause long-term damage by allowing her to sleep with you. If anything, you'll just form a closer bond. Everyone told me that I shouldn't let DS sleep with me, shouldn't rock him to sleep, shouldn't nurse him to sleep...all of the parenting books had me paranoid that if I snuggled with him during naps or at night that he would never learn to sleep on his own. But, you know what....he sleeps beautifully now.

Are you still thinking about keeping her in your room, but in her own crib?....recent studies show that can decrease the risk of SIDS.

[Flynn]

I agree you should do what's right for you -- there's no "right" answer when it comes to "where baby should sleep." For every "expert" opinion one way...there are many others on the opposite side and everywhere in between.

I do think that it's important to be on the same page as your spouse however. If the two parents have different opinions I think they should work on a compromise BEFORE baby comes if possible. It could save a lot of headaches in the future.

I don't understand being completely against it -- especially if the baby is sleeping in a crib or bassinet in your room (rather than the bed). But I guess my lack of understanding is due to me thinking that is okay to do!

Good luck in getting it all worked out before the baby comes. When are you due?

I probably won't be much help either. My compromise to get better sleep but also some snuggling was to bring them to bed with me around 5am. Well, that is what I did with Bryn. Anna came to bed earlier and that didn't work as well.

Now both of the kids are sleeping in the same bed together. Upside, besides being incredibly cute, is that they both sleep better and later. Downside is that I get fewer am snuggles.

[houseelf]

I can argue zealously on both sides of this argument. Really. I probably fall more on the co-sleeper side because of MY needs (not theirs).

Kelly

and it will (both things: take all of your time / change when your husband meets the babe).

it's a rollercoaster!

[planet]

We did cosleeping, still do if you count that one and sometimes both end up in our bed by morning. If she's the one who is happy sleeping alone I would let her. You have a ton of snuggle time still ahead of you. If it is disrupting your sleep though to have her sleep alone then I'd bring her back to bed. Not much help, am I?

[PrincessFiona]

Aidan still sleeps with us. :! ....Zoe does too........ :!

kris

[migirl]

I co-slept with Jack for the first 4 months, at which point we transitioned him to his crib and it was fine. He still occasionally ends up in bed with me if he's sick or just not sleeping well or whatever (and I say "me" b/c DH is uncomfortable with having Jack in our bed b/c he's afraid of rolling over onto him, so when Jack sleeps w/ me DH goes into the spare bedroom; and yes, for the first 4 months when I was co-sleeping with Jack, DH and I slept in separate bedrooms ).

[migirl]

Like I said, we transitioned Jack to his crib around 4 months and it was absolutely fine. I was afraid that he would have a hard time adjusting, but he slept exactly the same in his crib as he did with me. I also wanted to move him into his crib earlier, rather than later, for the same reason - I thought it would be much harder to do as he got older.