Co- Sleeping Pros and Cons

 

I have Co-slept with 2 of my 3 children, I have been told not to many times over that I would never sleep that I was creating bad habits or endangering my child.

My reasonings behind chosing to co sleep or not diffred with each of my boys with Loghan he was prem and strait from the NICU, he was born with underdeveloped lungs and I was a very paranoid mom, I couldn't stand to lay him in his cot and walk away.

Gabriel on the other hand slept through from a very early age and preferred to sleep on his own rather than in our bed so we decided to leave it be as he was happier that way and just slept better.

Jesse on the other hand again had issues with his lungs at birth, he also had terrible colic and reflux and Jaco and I felt uncomfortable leaving him in his cot, he would wake more often and we were constantly checking on him so we just found that we were all happier with co sleeping and he still co sleeps with us now.

If you are considering co-sleeping I highly recommend it, even with the cons I love it although every child and family is different so I urge you to go with what works best for both you and your baby, there are some families who choose to have one big family bed, that is not for us personally and we will definitely be moving Jesse over into his own bed over the next year.

For now however we are very happy as is and it has been a wonderful experience for us and Jesse.

Here is a list of Pros and Cons I have found whilst co- sleeping....

Pros

- Especially if you have a Winter baby you can avoid getting out of bed every time your baby wakes.

- If you choose to breastfeed it makes dream feeding and/or night feeding much easier, this increases your chance of a good nights sleep and for me it it was a big help with breastfeeding in general.

- You provide constant reassurance and comfort for your baby, if your baby reaches out you are there they can also smell you and feel your warmth.

- There is no need to buy a cot- we bought a cot that Jesse has literally used maybe 5 times.

- Your baby in theory should not wake as often and you should get more sleep.

- It is extremely comforting as a mom to know your baby is safe beside you- I know I felt better knowing that my baby was right beside me.

one little baby can take up so much room =)

Cons

- Babies turn into toddlers who like to take up at least half of the bed

- Busy babies can mean that baby is active throughout the night even in their sleep, if you are a light sleeper this could disturb your and your partners sleep, if you are an active sleeper it can also be disturbing for baby.

- If your baby wets the bed you will know all about it.... not fun

- It can be a difficult habit to break- my mom and dad struggled with me until the age of 5.

- No alone time or space with your partner

- you may also be concerned if you are a heavy sleeper that you can roll onto or harm your baby, for us personally I have never found this to be an issue I was always extremely aware of my baby and never found it to be a problem.

As I said before co sleeping can be a wonderful experience for both mom and baby I highly recommend it but gain suggest that you look at it from all sides and do what is best for you and baby. 

If you are concerned these sleep nests are a big help