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Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Bed-sharing Night One

So we've always co-slept with james at night. He has always slept in an on-the-bed co-sleeper, so that he could be swaddled and have his own little space and we wouldn't have to worry about him. While he was very tiny I really needed this to feel secure with him because I was SO worried about covers and pillows and blankets, and whether the adult mattress is safe for the baby.

Now understanding more deeply the absolute lack of movement that a swaddled baby has (unable to turn over or bring blankets up toward the face), I already am guessing I will be slightly less paranoid for our second baby . . .

But secretly I've always wanted to just have him in the big bed with us. When he's there, he stares into my eyes, touches my face, and then looks around happily for awhile, kicking and wiggling or calm and peaceful, sometimes playing with the sheets or comforter or a toy . . . it is so sweet and special to be able to snuggle up with him in the night or morning . . .

So now that he's getting a bit more sturdy and getting toward the age when people stop swaddling, I wanted to give it a go with him unswaddled in the big bed with us all night to see how it would go.

And basically it did not go well, for two reasons which are both solvable.

1. I think he still needs the swaddle. He will not sleep longer than about 2 hours unswaddled, even when he was snuggled up to me.

2. He is a HOT SWEATY baby with a cold clammy Mom, hahah. Meaning that I want to be all covered up but if he's snuggled up next to me (partially) covered up--he gets so hot in his sleep that sweat just pours off of him. I woke up to his entire clothes and the sheets around him (and, therefore, me) being soaked in a way that doesn't seem like pee.

Soooooo, not sure what's going to happen with that as the summer approaches. James said he wanted to get a better air conditioner for our room so maybe that would help? But it's not like our room was hot last night and it happened anyway! Maybe if we can get the right kind of pajamas or lack thereof it would be okay?

I guess I'll see if we can keep him in the swaddle and cosleeper until he's six months and see if it goes better then, or perhaps start transitioning into bed-sharing after a middle of the night wake-up or something. We'll see.

But that was bed-sharing night one

4 comments:

Alyssa said...

Sorry it didn't go super well. We've co-slept with Evan from time to time since he was very young (if he was having a fussy night, or I like to have afternoon naps with him), and he definitely sweats more than us! So, we usually just have him in a onesie (we've never swaddled him, except for maybe the first week). We've always been pretty lax about the typical "rules" though, which is probably bad to admit, but whatever.

Ella said...

Sorry night #1 wasn't as great as you'd hoped. You'll get there. We've definitely got bed-sharing down to an art form after 17 months, but it took a while. And yeah, like Alyssa, we put Eliza in a short sleeved onesie in the summer and long sleeved, footie pjs in the winter. She hates any kind of blanket on her (and never liked to be swaddled), so she sleeps up toward the head board a little bit above me (when she's not attached to my b00b, lol!) without the covers near her at all. God forbid a blanket touch her!!! ;)

justadrienne said...

James was just in a diaper and T-shirt but he was partially covered up--I think just the body heat might have done it to him, though.

Liz said...

O put Peter in a onsie, or he just wears a diaper. Otherwise, he soaks through everything. Our problem is that he HAS to touch me, even if he isn't near my boob00meaning he snuggles up under my neck, or drapes himself across me. I freeze at night, so we're still working on that. He refuses to have his arms covered, so I don't really worry about the blankets.

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