Susanne Remic is a primary school teacher, freelance writer and parenting blogger. She writes at Ghostwritermummy and Maternity Matters and in between all of that she regularly wins mummy of the year awards for running around after her two children, aged six and 19 months. This is her pregnancy blog: an online diary of her third pregnancy as she strives to overcome two difficult births, one angel child and one awkward toddler. Join Susanne as she shares every step of her journey from bump to baby!
Co-sleeping
By Susanne Remic on 27 Jan 2012
Sleep. It’s the most common topic of discussion amongst new parents and the most elusive of all prizes. Today I bumped into a lady who attended the same baby group as the toddler and I when he was a newborn.
At the time, the toddler slept for only 40 minutes at a time and I was pretty exhausted. Our favourite topic of conversation back then had been sleep - how much we were getting, how much more we wanted and when, oh when, would that be?!
Today, we found ourselves drifting onto that very same topic as I ruefully admitted I was not looking forward to more sleepless nights - especially since the toddler is still prone to the odd unsettled night or two. That’s why I’m so happy to have finally made a decision about co-sleeping.
When my daughter was newborn, I used to feed her in bed and we would fall asleep together. It was lovely, but I would always wake up and panic that she was going to fall out or I would roll onto her etc. I would gingerly lift her and put her back in her own bed and, her being her, she would continue to sleep peacefully. When my son was born, I had visions of doing the same thing, as it had been so easy and made the nightime waking a lot more bearable.
My son was different though. He had terrible reflux right from birth and was unable to lie flat without screaming in pain. He also projectile vomited regularly so sharing a bed with him was just not possible. Before he was settled on his current medication, we tried a few different sorts, all of which required mixing with small amounts of expressed milk. This had to be done downstairs and so it was easier to just feed him down there and take him back to his own bed.
So, at the age of two and a bit, the toddler is finally sleeping more or less all night without waking. So imagine the thought of introducing a new baby to the nighttime rituals and imagine the horror on my face! That’s where the idea of co-sleeping came from, only this time I want to do it properly.
I want to be able to feed the new baby with the minimum of fussing, so we have invested in a co-sleeping bedside cot. It attaches to the bed and means that I can simply slide the baby over when he/ she needs a feed.
I’m hoping this will result in more sleep for us all. I wasn’t sure at first what the husband would think of it, especially as it means the baby will be in with us a lot longer than we are used to. But if there is one thing we have learned since having the toddler, it’s that all babies are different and if we are to parent them successfully, we have to try different things. Wish us luck!
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