Rethinking sleeping arrangements
GOOD morning, everyone! Are we all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed today?
No?
Well, that's okay. I'm not either.
Things are very peaceful at the moment, though. AJ is reading a huge stack of "Sesame Street Library" books to MM. Wow, that's nice. And Baby E is in my lap nursing.
After Baby E finally went back to sleep around 4:55 and was up again at 5:51 this morning, the two of us finally got to sleep around 6:30 a.m After all my good intentions of getting her up at 8:30 I let her nurse and sleep until almost 10.
DH had gotten up and read last night's blog post by then, so hefed the girls breakfast and went in to work late instead of waking me. I hope letting E sleep so late doesn't set us up for another night like that tonight.
(Er, I found out when I went to feed the kids lunch that they had milk and a tangerine for breakfast, so I'm not sure if you can really say they "had breakfast." Also, I discovered that DH has been using the baby wipes and putting them back in the container if they're not poopy. But that's beside the point. The point is that he let me sleep in this morning, changed Baby E's diaper and put her in the exersaucer, and turned on some kind of video or audio tape for the kids when he left so that I didn't wake up until after 11 a.m.)
I'm really thinking about changing our sleeping set-up.
#######################
The sidecar crib has been wonderful, and it does allow me to nurse Baby E without either of us fully waking up in the night. But now Baby E is rolling over and tummy-scooting very well, and trying hard to get up on her knees. With her increasing mobility, I'm thinking it's probably time to put the fourth side of the crib back on.
I enjoy having her close, and so does she, but I'm tired of the frequent bursts of "every hour all night long" nursing sessions. She's almost 5 months old and nearly 20 lbs--I really don't think she needs an all-night-long smorgasboard every night, to the exclusion of good sleep for both of us.
Here's the plan I'm considering:
First, put the side back on her crib in our room, so she gets used to it that way.
Next, somehow make room in the "baby room" for a pack-n-play next to the queen-sized guest bed (where DH has ended up sleeping the last few nights because of worse-than usual snoring due to a cold) and the stacks of storage bins. Since the crib can't be moved from one room to another without being taken apart, I'm not sure I want to move it before trying out the separate sleeping arrangements first.
Or we could just put the crib in the baby's room now (since it's half taken apart for the sidecar anyway) and set up the p & p in our room.
Except that I'm not absolutely certain I'm ready to have her farther than arms-length away all night long. I still check on her frequently in the night if she happens to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. Maybe I'll wait until she hits 6 months and is past the worst danger of SIDS.
The other option would be to forget the crib altogether and just let her sleep in our bed at night. She's doing that for several hours most nights anyway. She loves that, since it lets her nurse and sleep all night long. She could take naps in the 4-sided crib in her own room when I'm not lying down with her.
But I have back and neck problems. The all-night nursing without being able to move much makes me very sore in more than one way, not to mention affecting my quality of sleep. Also, DH is a very heavy sleeper and several times I've woken to find one of his arms across the baby.
What do you think? Any suggestions, thoughts or ideas would be welcome.
P.S. Is the ####### place marker helpful in finding your place after going to the full post from the excerpt on the home page, or is it just annoying?
P.P.S. Is it woken, waked, awoke, awoken or what? None of them look right to me right now.
No?
Well, that's okay. I'm not either.
Things are very peaceful at the moment, though. AJ is reading a huge stack of "Sesame Street Library" books to MM. Wow, that's nice. And Baby E is in my lap nursing.
After Baby E finally went back to sleep around 4:55 and was up again at 5:51 this morning, the two of us finally got to sleep around 6:30 a.m After all my good intentions of getting her up at 8:30 I let her nurse and sleep until almost 10.
DH had gotten up and read last night's blog post by then, so he
(Er, I found out when I went to feed the kids lunch that they had milk and a tangerine for breakfast, so I'm not sure if you can really say they "had breakfast." Also, I discovered that DH has been using the baby wipes and putting them back in the container if they're not poopy. But that's beside the point. The point is that he let me sleep in this morning, changed Baby E's diaper and put her in the exersaucer, and turned on some kind of video or audio tape for the kids when he left so that I didn't wake up until after 11 a.m.)
I'm really thinking about changing our sleeping set-up.
#######################
The sidecar crib has been wonderful, and it does allow me to nurse Baby E without either of us fully waking up in the night. But now Baby E is rolling over and tummy-scooting very well, and trying hard to get up on her knees. With her increasing mobility, I'm thinking it's probably time to put the fourth side of the crib back on.
I enjoy having her close, and so does she, but I'm tired of the frequent bursts of "every hour all night long" nursing sessions. She's almost 5 months old and nearly 20 lbs--I really don't think she needs an all-night-long smorgasboard every night, to the exclusion of good sleep for both of us.
Here's the plan I'm considering:
First, put the side back on her crib in our room, so she gets used to it that way.
Next, somehow make room in the "baby room" for a pack-n-play next to the queen-sized guest bed (where DH has ended up sleeping the last few nights because of worse-than usual snoring due to a cold) and the stacks of storage bins. Since the crib can't be moved from one room to another without being taken apart, I'm not sure I want to move it before trying out the separate sleeping arrangements first.
Or we could just put the crib in the baby's room now (since it's half taken apart for the sidecar anyway) and set up the p & p in our room.
Except that I'm not absolutely certain I'm ready to have her farther than arms-length away all night long. I still check on her frequently in the night if she happens to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. Maybe I'll wait until she hits 6 months and is past the worst danger of SIDS.
The other option would be to forget the crib altogether and just let her sleep in our bed at night. She's doing that for several hours most nights anyway. She loves that, since it lets her nurse and sleep all night long. She could take naps in the 4-sided crib in her own room when I'm not lying down with her.
But I have back and neck problems. The all-night nursing without being able to move much makes me very sore in more than one way, not to mention affecting my quality of sleep. Also, DH is a very heavy sleeper and several times I've woken to find one of his arms across the baby.
What do you think? Any suggestions, thoughts or ideas would be welcome.
P.S. Is the ####### place marker helpful in finding your place after going to the full post from the excerpt on the home page, or is it just annoying?
P.P.S. Is it woken, waked, awoke, awoken or what? None of them look right to me right now.
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 11:43 AM[Permanent link]
6 Comments:
There are a variety of pillows people use to make themselves more comfortable when pregnant. Would any of those help to make you more comfortable at night. Would you necessarily need to sleep on your side to make co-sleeping work?
You might try having E on one side and DH on the other, if you are worried about him being a heavy sleeper. That's what C and I do, though for other reasons.
Just thought I'd throw out some ideas. It doesn't sound like a fun situation.
Doug
Also, I like the #####.
Thanks for the thoughts, Doug. I am a little worried about having too many pillows in the bed with the baby.
I don't know; maybe I'm just being paranoid about turning over, etc. when I have the baby in the bed. But I worry about bedding getting over her face if I roll over, so I stay in one position all night if she's in the bed.
Does Colleen nurse only on one side all night? How many times is she nursing at night, usually--or is it all night long with the baby waking up whenever she gets off the nipple like E tries to do? Maybe she'll come by and give her thoughts?
Some people co-sleep and are able to rest, but I was never able to relax enough. But if you are worried about baby E all night anyway, maybe you could move her to a farther corner of the room, or even slightly out into the hallway?
It's a big dilemma. My first two kids slept great from six weeks on, but my toddler was still waking several times a night at eight months, and I was reluctant to move him to his own room because it was more of a hassle in the middle of the night to go get him and because I worried he would wake up his sisters. By nine months, though, I moved him, and miraculously he started sleeping better (I think my proximity {the proximity of food!} was making him wake up more frequently).
OTOH, every baby is different, so moving her out might not work out the same way. It's hard. Good luck!
LOL, Allison, my 3-year-old still doesn't sleep through the night. None of my three have been good sleepers. I was so excited when Baby E started sleeping through the night a couple of months ago--if only it had lasted.
I am thinking I'd like to try having Baby E sleep in the other room a night or two and see how it goes--maybe I'll join DH in the baby's room tonight and let her have our bedroom to herself, LOL.
I think your plan is a sound one (at least it worked for us)
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