Sooooo
We never registered for or got a crib. I knew I wanted to cosleep, and many of my friends who did ended up never using their cribs. I really didn't want to spend 500-600 dollars on something we wouldn't use . . . so I figured I would wait and get one when I wanted one.
So maybe about a month ago, watching james start to fill up his cradle that I somehow seriously thought he would physically fit in until he was 2 (it's 31 inches long), I started feeling some pressure to make a decision about his sleeping situation and thinking maybe we should get a crib for him to use for naps, especially because at this point I was having some success to rocking james to sleep and putting him in his cradle . . .
. . . however, in the month since then, as I alluded to before, something has sparked to life in james which cannot be controlled or even guided much of the time. He loves life. He doesn't want to sleep (or even get a good meal in, sometimes!). He wants to look and play and wiggle and chew on things. He has discovered that the world contains all this interesting information and objects which are a joy to behold and interact with.
This is quite adorable but it means that our sleep situation has changed. It is nearly impossible now to rock him to sleep without a LOT of time and effort invested. Right now there are two easy ways to get him to sleep. One: Nurse him and then rock him, and then stick him in his swing and leave him there to "fuss it out" until he falls asleep, anywhere from 2-15 mins. OR, lay in the bed with him and nurse him for 5-10 mins until he is completely asleep. Nursing is much easier and even pleasant and relaxing (for both of us). AND it's sustainable on the long term. Which putting him in his swing isn't.
So my basic conclusion, here, is that the easiest thing for us on the long-term is for me to nurse james to sleep. A crib, therefore, is not going to work for us. Attempting to transfer him to a crib will mean that he notices he is alive and begins to smile and look around again. Cute, but not restful.
So I believe our immediate action on his sleeping situation is going to be to get toddler rails for one or both sides of our bed. And then before he starts crawling (in the next month or two), we'll get a twin mattress and throw it on the floor in our bedroom and I will nurse him to sleep and then he can nap there and potentially spend part of the night. If he wakes up he can crawl out safely--we can put the mattress on blankets or a rug or something so it's soft for him.
At this point we'll also get a baby gate that we can set up in our bedroom door.
And then when his room is done (and has out-gassed for several months), we can transition him to sleeping in his own room on the twin mattress on the floor (and at that point, put the baby gate across the hallway so that he can access both of our rooms but that is all). And then he'll have plenty of time to get used to his own room before we night-wean him (out of our bed and from nursing at night). I would hope to do that around 18 months or so.
So that's the plan. Mom, if I feel like I want a crib in the future I will still get one! But we're going to try this first and see how it goes.
Expecting our Little Brother in November!
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Friday, April 29, 2011
Breastfeeding Twins
My nieces are twins, my good friend just became an uncle to twins, and another family member is currently pregnant with twins so the topic of breastfeeding twins has come up a lot lately.
My experience with breastfeeding twins is what I witnessed/heard from my sister-in-law, what I've researched about it (alongside breastfeeding in general) over the years, and what I can extrapolate from nursing one baby.
Here is my advice for how to successfully breastfeed twins. This is adapted from the general breastfeeding advice on my breastfeeding page--the parts in italics are where the advice differs from general tips with a singleton. I hope this is helpful!
Breastfeeding Twins
The majority of women have more than enough MILK to exclusively breastfeed twins; what ends up being the scare resources, more often than not, is time, food, and sleep for the Mom.
I firmly believe that breastfeeding is a socialized skill, much like using a fork. We were meant to grow up watching people breastfeed all the time, like using a fork. In this ideal environment, we would learn about breastfeeding by watching our Moms, Aunts, Sisters, and limitless women while out and about in public. However, this is not our environment, so breastfeeding goes from natural and easy to awkward and challenging very quickly.
Here is my advice for having a successful breastfeeding relationship with your twins. These things are in an ideal situation. Sometimes there are emergencies or unforeseen complications, but breastfeeding is resilient enough to work out great even if you can't do all of these things every time.
-If possible, have a natural birth. There is evidence that drugs such as pitocin and the narcotic drugs in an epidural can affect both your milk coming in, and the baby's ability to stimulate the breast early on. Sorry I'm too lazy to look up said evidence and link it but you can look it up yourself and/or use common sense to realize that it is probably true. With this said, a natural birth isn't everyone's first choice for a birth experience and plenty of medicated birth babies have zero issue with breastfeeding. However, I believe a natural birth is a great way to start out a breastfeeding relationship with every advantage on your side.
Some people mistakenly believe that you must have a c-section or an epidural when you are delivering twins. This is not true. As long as one twin is head down and engaged in the birth canal, you should be set to deliver your twins vaginally. Sometimes only one twin can be delivered vaginally but it's still better for that one to have avoided the c-section even if one is necessary for the second twin.
Some hospitals have policies about delivering twins. Fight for your birth rights if having a natural birth is important to you. You are always allowed to deny a medical test or procedure that they are offering.
So even for twins, having a natural birth is a better way to go if you are able to do it!
-Immediately after birthing the first twin, put the baby on your belly/chest, and leave her/him there, skin-to-skin, until you have the other baby. Continue skin-to-skin care then for as long as possible--ideally 1-2 hours or more. You can allow the babies to initiate breastfeeding on their own by crawling to the breast, or you can help them. Keep the babies naked and your chest uncovered, and do this skin-to-skin kangaroo care for at least 1-2 hours after birth.
-My suggestions for a great pattern in which to nurse twins is this: Have one twin on one breast for all feedings and the other twin on the other for an entire week, then switch them. This will ensure that even if one twin is having a needy/fussy day, there will still be plenty of milk there for the other twin. The reason it might be a good idea to switch them weekly is that more often than not, one breast will produce more than the other breast, so this ensures that both twins get a chance at the more productive side.
-The first week should be a "nursing vacation." You, your babies, and ideally your husband, should pretty much stay in bed and be naked together to help the babies bond with both of you and establish proper breastfeeding.
-Expect the babies to pretty much nurse non-stop the first week--this is NORMAL, HEALTHY, and does NOT mean that the babies are not getting enough milk. This first week is CRITICAL in terms of your milk supply coming in well. Some people can take up to a week for the milk to come in. Colostrum is enough for your babies but only if they are able to nurse pretty much constantly. Some babies can go an hour or two between feeds, and most do that at least some of the time, but start out with the expectation that this first week your job is ONLY to nurse the babies. Hence the staying in bed/on the couch.
Even if you don't generally enjoy tandem breastfeeding (feeding both babies at once), you might want to just resign yourself to doing it for this first week or two.
-For at least the first six weeks, breastfeeding twins is (at least) a three person 24-hour a day job:
+The Mom should (for most of the day and night) be comfortably arranged on a couch or bed, with pillows set up so that when a twin is hungry, it is brought to the Mom's breast, arranged on the pillow, and allowed to nurse. In this way the Mom can nurse both babies at once on demand, even with twins.
+The Dad should be on diaper and baby comfort duty. Besides feedings, Dad should be the primary caretaker of the babies. He will do most diaper changes, clothes changes, will bring twins to and from Mom, will rock to sleep, etc.
+And there should be a third person, a family member or friend (or many in turn), with you 24/7 to take care of cooking and feeding both parents, doing all the laundry, and for back-up baby care.
-After the first week, continue to nurse the babies on demand--nurse at the first sign of hunger--rooting (chewing/sucking on hands, clothing, etc), open "searching" mouth, agitated movements, etc. During the day try to nurse at least every 2 hours. This will help the babies sleep longer at night if they are fed more often during the day.
-Expect the babies to be fussy and cluster nurse (feed very often/constantly), usually in the evening and during growth spurts. You will probably at some point feel like you are "out of milk" and that the babies seems hungry and unsatisfied. As long as this only happens for a day or two at a time (growth spurts), and/or during one part of the day, it is totally normal and DOES NOT MEAN the babies are overly hungry, starving, or that you need to supplement with f0rmula. Supplementing during times like these can be very dangerous and lead to a permanent (and spiraling) supply dip.
This cluster nursing usually lasts for the first 6-12 weeks.
-After the first six weeks, breastfeeding twins (just like with singletons) will become easier. By 6 weeks, the babies will usually be going at least two hours between feeds and sleeping longer stretches at night. Breastfeeding will become more routine and each nursing session will shorter. At this point it might be possible to only have two full-time adults taking care of: the twins, the Mom, and the house. ;-)
-Have CONFIDENCE in breastfeeding. It is difficult at times, but it really is perfect food for your babies, and a perfect "system" for Mom. There is no reason to question whether your babies are eating enough unless they aren't gaining weight. Otherwise, feed your babies at your breasts, watch the milk dribble from their chins, and KNOW that they will eat as much as they needs to eat, and your breasts will make it for him. Supply and demand. It's that simple, especially if you can do all of the things above.
-After the first 3 months, it can become REALLY easy. Most babies drop to 5-10 minute feedings every 2-3 hours and many are sleeping through the night, or only waking once or twice to nurse (again usually only for 5-10 mins). There is no warming bottles, mixing f0rmula, wondering if the baby ate enough or if you need more--you don't even have to get out of bed all night long! It is true that it can be challenging and demanding in the early days, but it totally pays off in the long run!
By 3/4 months, an energetic Mom (even an exclusively breastfeeding one) can probably handle her twins on her own with just a few hours of help (including a baby break) per week. As long as she has lots of snacks and isn't expected to do much else besides take care of the babies and feed herself. ;-)
-All problems can be solved. Seriously. Of course with twins more often than with singletons, supplementation with f0rmula or donor milk can be required, but this should not be seen as a failure. The goal should be to continue to provide as much breast milk as possible for as long as possible, and success shouldn't be judged on exclusively breastfeeding.
If you are pregnant with twins and would like to breastfeed, definitely get both Breastfeeding Made Simple (which I recommend to all pregnant ladies), and also Adventures in Tandem Nursing. This is an entire book about breastfeeding two: twins, while pregnant, an infant and a toddler, etc. There are personalized stories, photos and descriptions of good tandem positions, and general advice.
Generally, understand that exclusively breastfeeding twins is POSSIBLE most of the time--it is more normal than not for a Mom to have more than enough milk to feed two babies. What is going to make it really happen though is having the right help and support in the beginning. The Mom needs to be waited on hand and foot and should NOT be the primary caretaker of the babies. Her only job should be to breastfeed (for at least 6 weeks)--this approach will make success easier. With the appropriate support, even a Mom of twins can have a wonderful breastfeeding relationship with her babies!
My experience with breastfeeding twins is what I witnessed/heard from my sister-in-law, what I've researched about it (alongside breastfeeding in general) over the years, and what I can extrapolate from nursing one baby.
Here is my advice for how to successfully breastfeed twins. This is adapted from the general breastfeeding advice on my breastfeeding page--the parts in italics are where the advice differs from general tips with a singleton. I hope this is helpful!
Breastfeeding Twins
The majority of women have more than enough MILK to exclusively breastfeed twins; what ends up being the scare resources, more often than not, is time, food, and sleep for the Mom.
I firmly believe that breastfeeding is a socialized skill, much like using a fork. We were meant to grow up watching people breastfeed all the time, like using a fork. In this ideal environment, we would learn about breastfeeding by watching our Moms, Aunts, Sisters, and limitless women while out and about in public. However, this is not our environment, so breastfeeding goes from natural and easy to awkward and challenging very quickly.
Here is my advice for having a successful breastfeeding relationship with your twins. These things are in an ideal situation. Sometimes there are emergencies or unforeseen complications, but breastfeeding is resilient enough to work out great even if you can't do all of these things every time.
-If possible, have a natural birth. There is evidence that drugs such as pitocin and the narcotic drugs in an epidural can affect both your milk coming in, and the baby's ability to stimulate the breast early on. Sorry I'm too lazy to look up said evidence and link it but you can look it up yourself and/or use common sense to realize that it is probably true. With this said, a natural birth isn't everyone's first choice for a birth experience and plenty of medicated birth babies have zero issue with breastfeeding. However, I believe a natural birth is a great way to start out a breastfeeding relationship with every advantage on your side.
Some people mistakenly believe that you must have a c-section or an epidural when you are delivering twins. This is not true. As long as one twin is head down and engaged in the birth canal, you should be set to deliver your twins vaginally. Sometimes only one twin can be delivered vaginally but it's still better for that one to have avoided the c-section even if one is necessary for the second twin.
Some hospitals have policies about delivering twins. Fight for your birth rights if having a natural birth is important to you. You are always allowed to deny a medical test or procedure that they are offering.
So even for twins, having a natural birth is a better way to go if you are able to do it!
-Immediately after birthing the first twin, put the baby on your belly/chest, and leave her/him there, skin-to-skin, until you have the other baby. Continue skin-to-skin care then for as long as possible--ideally 1-2 hours or more. You can allow the babies to initiate breastfeeding on their own by crawling to the breast, or you can help them. Keep the babies naked and your chest uncovered, and do this skin-to-skin kangaroo care for at least 1-2 hours after birth.
-My suggestions for a great pattern in which to nurse twins is this: Have one twin on one breast for all feedings and the other twin on the other for an entire week, then switch them. This will ensure that even if one twin is having a needy/fussy day, there will still be plenty of milk there for the other twin. The reason it might be a good idea to switch them weekly is that more often than not, one breast will produce more than the other breast, so this ensures that both twins get a chance at the more productive side.
-The first week should be a "nursing vacation." You, your babies, and ideally your husband, should pretty much stay in bed and be naked together to help the babies bond with both of you and establish proper breastfeeding.
-Expect the babies to pretty much nurse non-stop the first week--this is NORMAL, HEALTHY, and does NOT mean that the babies are not getting enough milk. This first week is CRITICAL in terms of your milk supply coming in well. Some people can take up to a week for the milk to come in. Colostrum is enough for your babies but only if they are able to nurse pretty much constantly. Some babies can go an hour or two between feeds, and most do that at least some of the time, but start out with the expectation that this first week your job is ONLY to nurse the babies. Hence the staying in bed/on the couch.
Even if you don't generally enjoy tandem breastfeeding (feeding both babies at once), you might want to just resign yourself to doing it for this first week or two.
-For at least the first six weeks, breastfeeding twins is (at least) a three person 24-hour a day job:
+The Mom should (for most of the day and night) be comfortably arranged on a couch or bed, with pillows set up so that when a twin is hungry, it is brought to the Mom's breast, arranged on the pillow, and allowed to nurse. In this way the Mom can nurse both babies at once on demand, even with twins.
+The Dad should be on diaper and baby comfort duty. Besides feedings, Dad should be the primary caretaker of the babies. He will do most diaper changes, clothes changes, will bring twins to and from Mom, will rock to sleep, etc.
+And there should be a third person, a family member or friend (or many in turn), with you 24/7 to take care of cooking and feeding both parents, doing all the laundry, and for back-up baby care.
-After the first week, continue to nurse the babies on demand--nurse at the first sign of hunger--rooting (chewing/sucking on hands, clothing, etc), open "searching" mouth, agitated movements, etc. During the day try to nurse at least every 2 hours. This will help the babies sleep longer at night if they are fed more often during the day.
-Expect the babies to be fussy and cluster nurse (feed very often/constantly), usually in the evening and during growth spurts. You will probably at some point feel like you are "out of milk" and that the babies seems hungry and unsatisfied. As long as this only happens for a day or two at a time (growth spurts), and/or during one part of the day, it is totally normal and DOES NOT MEAN the babies are overly hungry, starving, or that you need to supplement with f0rmula. Supplementing during times like these can be very dangerous and lead to a permanent (and spiraling) supply dip.
This cluster nursing usually lasts for the first 6-12 weeks.
-After the first six weeks, breastfeeding twins (just like with singletons) will become easier. By 6 weeks, the babies will usually be going at least two hours between feeds and sleeping longer stretches at night. Breastfeeding will become more routine and each nursing session will shorter. At this point it might be possible to only have two full-time adults taking care of: the twins, the Mom, and the house. ;-)
-Have CONFIDENCE in breastfeeding. It is difficult at times, but it really is perfect food for your babies, and a perfect "system" for Mom. There is no reason to question whether your babies are eating enough unless they aren't gaining weight. Otherwise, feed your babies at your breasts, watch the milk dribble from their chins, and KNOW that they will eat as much as they needs to eat, and your breasts will make it for him. Supply and demand. It's that simple, especially if you can do all of the things above.
-After the first 3 months, it can become REALLY easy. Most babies drop to 5-10 minute feedings every 2-3 hours and many are sleeping through the night, or only waking once or twice to nurse (again usually only for 5-10 mins). There is no warming bottles, mixing f0rmula, wondering if the baby ate enough or if you need more--you don't even have to get out of bed all night long! It is true that it can be challenging and demanding in the early days, but it totally pays off in the long run!
By 3/4 months, an energetic Mom (even an exclusively breastfeeding one) can probably handle her twins on her own with just a few hours of help (including a baby break) per week. As long as she has lots of snacks and isn't expected to do much else besides take care of the babies and feed herself. ;-)
-All problems can be solved. Seriously. Of course with twins more often than with singletons, supplementation with f0rmula or donor milk can be required, but this should not be seen as a failure. The goal should be to continue to provide as much breast milk as possible for as long as possible, and success shouldn't be judged on exclusively breastfeeding.
If you are pregnant with twins and would like to breastfeed, definitely get both Breastfeeding Made Simple (which I recommend to all pregnant ladies), and also Adventures in Tandem Nursing. This is an entire book about breastfeeding two: twins, while pregnant, an infant and a toddler, etc. There are personalized stories, photos and descriptions of good tandem positions, and general advice.
Generally, understand that exclusively breastfeeding twins is POSSIBLE most of the time--it is more normal than not for a Mom to have more than enough milk to feed two babies. What is going to make it really happen though is having the right help and support in the beginning. The Mom needs to be waited on hand and foot and should NOT be the primary caretaker of the babies. Her only job should be to breastfeed (for at least 6 weeks)--this approach will make success easier. With the appropriate support, even a Mom of twins can have a wonderful breastfeeding relationship with her babies!
Thursday, April 28, 2011
james' own room?
I just realized that another goal I had by the time james was 6 months was to have the room across from ours cleaned out so that we could start decorating it as a Toddler room for james. I'm thinking I'll transition him into napping in there first, between 9-12 months (whenever it's finished being decorated and it's ready). And then sometime between 12-18 months I can start transiting him to sleeping in it during (most) of the night. So that's my goals on james' room situation!
My progress at this point--welllll, there has been some. The room is particularly problematic because when I was pregnant and trying to get the rest of the house prepared and cleaned and ready for a baby, I basically stuck all of the most-difficult-to-deal-with-junk (for instance, boxes of old bills, paperwork, tax info, old journal print outs, all my stuff from teaching, boxes of clothes that don't fit, etc) into this one room so that I could keep a good flow on the rest of the cleaning . . . so then it was crammed full of stuff and very overwhelming.
We started making progress on it a few months ago when we cleaned out a lot of stuff. And since then we've gone a couple times and just spent 10-15 mins trying to clean, organize, and throw away trash and useless junk. So it's improving. Also part of why it's improving is that some of what was in it was gear, toys, diapers, and clothes for james that were too big and waiting to be used. Well now that he's five months old, I'm shocked how completely we've depleted the waiting stash. He's in 9 month stuff now (and six month stuff with a crotch extender), and in a few more months we'll start needing to actually shop for clothes for him because we've finally used most that we got at our shower!
Anyway, back to the room--we've made some progress. But we need to decide what to do with some of the things in there:
-The desk that is in there (and the one we have downstairs here). I'm thinking of setting up a computer/bills area somewhere and potentially we could put both of our desks there . . .
-And we need a place to put the filing cabinets (two small metal ones), and we have about 5 boxes of bills and paperwork to go through. That will be the hard part, going through all of that stuff. Ideally, we'd condense everything into the two filing cabinets and put them near our desk area!
(And ideally we would clean out the garage and sell a bunch of stuff (from that room and from the garage) at a garage sale this summer and/or fall, but that's more a 9 month goal I guess, haha.)
So maybe I'll be able to work more on that this week. I'm REALLY excited to paint and have a great idea for the room but I'll need to work on it. It needs a lot of planning still. A rough idea is that it will be a woodland scene with trees, birds and animals. The ceiling will look like the blue sky. But when you turn out the lights there will be glow-in-the dark stars and constellations! So fun!
I'm going to design it as a room for all my children to use between 1ish and 5ish (or when-ever they get pushed out by younger siblings). Since it's right across from us, it will be easy to put up a baby gate at night so they can reach us without the danger of stairs or getting into the rest of the house.
My progress at this point--welllll, there has been some. The room is particularly problematic because when I was pregnant and trying to get the rest of the house prepared and cleaned and ready for a baby, I basically stuck all of the most-difficult-to-deal-with-junk (for instance, boxes of old bills, paperwork, tax info, old journal print outs, all my stuff from teaching, boxes of clothes that don't fit, etc) into this one room so that I could keep a good flow on the rest of the cleaning . . . so then it was crammed full of stuff and very overwhelming.
We started making progress on it a few months ago when we cleaned out a lot of stuff. And since then we've gone a couple times and just spent 10-15 mins trying to clean, organize, and throw away trash and useless junk. So it's improving. Also part of why it's improving is that some of what was in it was gear, toys, diapers, and clothes for james that were too big and waiting to be used. Well now that he's five months old, I'm shocked how completely we've depleted the waiting stash. He's in 9 month stuff now (and six month stuff with a crotch extender), and in a few more months we'll start needing to actually shop for clothes for him because we've finally used most that we got at our shower!
Anyway, back to the room--we've made some progress. But we need to decide what to do with some of the things in there:
-The desk that is in there (and the one we have downstairs here). I'm thinking of setting up a computer/bills area somewhere and potentially we could put both of our desks there . . .
-And we need a place to put the filing cabinets (two small metal ones), and we have about 5 boxes of bills and paperwork to go through. That will be the hard part, going through all of that stuff. Ideally, we'd condense everything into the two filing cabinets and put them near our desk area!
(And ideally we would clean out the garage and sell a bunch of stuff (from that room and from the garage) at a garage sale this summer and/or fall, but that's more a 9 month goal I guess, haha.)
So maybe I'll be able to work more on that this week. I'm REALLY excited to paint and have a great idea for the room but I'll need to work on it. It needs a lot of planning still. A rough idea is that it will be a woodland scene with trees, birds and animals. The ceiling will look like the blue sky. But when you turn out the lights there will be glow-in-the dark stars and constellations! So fun!
I'm going to design it as a room for all my children to use between 1ish and 5ish (or when-ever they get pushed out by younger siblings). Since it's right across from us, it will be easy to put up a baby gate at night so they can reach us without the danger of stairs or getting into the rest of the house.
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
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
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