The Family Bed

Hello again. Another crummy, rainy summer day in Penticton brings me to my blog today. We have been having an unusually sucky summer this year. But anyway, I have been thinking a lot lately about the family bed. Mainly because it seems to be everyone's favorite question lately: what are you going to do when the new baby comes because you co-sleep?

I love co-sleeping. It allows so many things, easy nursing and more sleep in the early months, and as the child gets older it allows longer periods waking up in bed because baby has you right there and doesn't wake up alone and immediately want out of his crib. Also closeness if I've had to be away for a large part of the day, lots of hugs and cuddles readily available.

It comes with a few drawbacks of course. Eli does not sleep as long (hour tops usually) on his own, which can make naps a challenge. And I have such a small portion of the bed when I wake up in the morning which has become increasingly more apparent as I get larger and more uncomfortable in this pregnancy.

Still I'm not sure I feel ready to give it up.

It definitely feels like the time to start transitioning Eli if we are ever going to do it. We still have at least 3 months before baby arrives which should be sufficient time to wean him into a bed.

I would love to continue to co-sleep actually, the family bed I find quite satisfying and comfortable, but I have a few concerns. I'm concerned Eli won't give up his spot in the middle of the bed because ideally he should sleep on the other side of Dad so I can switch baby back and forth from side to side depending on which side needs nursing. It seems only my hair puts him back to sleep and the night spent away from him he and Dad did not fair as best they could on the sleep front. But my main concern is the new baby waking Eli up and him getting poor sleeps and being cranky all day. Eli is such a concerned child as it is and usually cries when other kids cry.

I have a plan on how I will wean Eli to a bed. A bed in our room to start and keep putting him back when he falls asleep, though that to me seems tedious and like less sleep which I really don't need right now. Then when he's used to that we move him just out into our "nook" which with our bedroom door open is pretty much just a continuation of our room so he'd even be able to see us still. The problem with this is, he'd still be able to hear baby cry no doubt. But our other bedroom options are on the other end of the house and that is too far away.

Now here are my possible plans to continue co-sleeping. #1: Get a bassinet for baby, though I would still have to wake up to bring baby into bed and manage to remember to put baby back when they are done eating which with Eli could be up to 45 minutes in the beginning. #2: Use the crib as a side car to the bed for the baby but then again on one side I would have to stay awake to put baby back on the correct side when done eating.

#3: Poses the same problem as #2 but involves buying a twin bed to put next to me so Eli can be on that side of me but then I'd just have to remember to put baby back on the opposite side. #4: Requires a little more work with adding a twin next to Dad's side of the bed because then Eli would have to get used to sleeping just next to Dad.

What do you think? Anyone have any experiences to share with me?