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Strollerderby
I haven’t had a full night’s sleep in more than seven hundred days. And it is my own fault. We have become a family of co-sleepers. I was always adamantly opposed to the notion of my children sleeping with us. Our room, our bed = our space. But somewhere along the line something shifted. I don’t know if we were too tired, too lulled by their cuteness or we simply gave in and became lazy.
But now…. I am frequently woken by a swift kick in the ribs. And what was once adorable and sweet – the snuggling, the love has now become a symbol of just how little sleep I am getting. Our pleas fall on deaf ears.
It seems as though this was a once occasional occurrence, but is now and every night thing. Our regular sleep is a thing of the past. I’m torn. I love to cuddle and know it won’t last forever, but also know…. I NEED SLEEP. And waking to a kick is anything but fun.
Do you embrace co-sleeping? Have you always? Do you keep your bed off-limits and if so, how do you make it happen?
Read more from Danielle on Strollerderby and her personal sites ExtraordinaryMommy and DanielleSmithMedia.
You can also follow her on Twitter.
More from Danielle on Strollerderby:
Will You Teach Your Kids To Give Like The Anonymous Kmart Donors?
McDonalds Outsmarts San Francisco Happy Meal Ban
Sticks and Stones: My Son Cut His Hair So Another Child Would Stop Calling Him A Girl
Have you ever let your infant sleep in your bed?
Have you ever let your baby sleep with you when they were less than four months? Maybe it was just a few minutes or maybe it was a few hours, or even all night long, but many parents would probably say they have done it at one time or another. Some parents co-sleep with their babies from infancy on. But I’m wondering if most parents know that in certain circumstances, the practice might be punishable by law?
A Texas couple is facing jail time for co-sleeping with their infant which lead to his death, partly because they had another infant die of S.I.D.S. two years ago in the same exact way.
Co-sleeping is awesome. There’s nothing like the delight of drifting off to sleep with your baby nestled safe and cozy in your arms.
If you’re passing out drunk, though, next to you is the last place your baby should be. As one British mom recently learned, drunken co-sleeping can be fatal. The risk of smothering or crushing the baby skyrockets when any adult in the bed is intoxicated.
In general, co-sleeping is a safe choice, and a brilliant move for breastfeeding parents. But if you’re not sober, you’re not a safe sleeping partner for your baby.
We’re not talking about a beer with dinner, here. The British mother who smothered her child had drunk an entire bottle of wine on an empty stomach before passing out with her little girl in her arms. When her husband came home, he found her unconscious with the infant dead at her side.
How do you get a baby to sleep?
Earlier this week, I reviewed an awesome new book, Spousonomics. Turns out they have a blog, too! And on it, Jenny posts about using economic theory to make a tough parenting choice: sleep training her 4-month-old daughter.
She uses a technique called a “commitment device” to follow through on what every parent knows is a tough task: letting her baby cry it out so everyone can get a full night’s sleep. Jenny’s commitment device is simple and infallable. She’s leaving.
For a night (or, if this is really going to work, probably a few nights), she’s going to pack her bags and have a slumber party at a friend’s place. Her husband can handle the rough night (or couple of rough nights, I’m guessing) with a crying baby, and then Jenny can come home to a house full of peaceful sleepers.
Is your baby's sleep space safe? Are you sure?
The bad news: The New York Times has an article out on the dangers of baby sleep products ranging from the now infamous drop-side cribs to seemingly benign baby monitors.
The good news: The main focus of their article is on how the government is bringing more scrutiny to bear on these products, with the aim of saving baby lives.
New rules from multiple government regulatory agencies are showing a renewed interest in the safety of your baby’s stuff. While on the one hand that’s a good thing, it might also quickly become too much of a good thing. We don’t want the government closely policing how our babes fall asleep, but on the other hand we don’t want unscrupulous companies selling faulty or dangerous products to new parents.
Do you share your bed?
Contrary to popular belief, the term co-sleeping actually describes something most parents do for the first year of life — share their bedroom with their little one before moving him or her into a nursery or separate bedroom.
Co-sleeping does not necessarily mean sharing your bed with your child, although that is how it is often understood, and how Jezebel described it earlier in a post on the “explosive” issue. As evidence of how divisive an issue bed sharing— and/or co-sleeping — is among moms, Jezebel’s Sadie quoted a statement blogger Kirby Desmarais made to the New York Post‘s article on the subject:
Co-sleeping in the U.S. more dangerous?
Co-sleeping with an older child is one thing. But sharing a bed with an infant who can’t wiggle out from under dad’s arm or pull herself free of bedsheets and pillows is quite another. And according to South Australian coroner Mark Johns, parents who do it are risking their children’s lives.
After investigating the deaths of five babies who died while sleeping alongside and adult, Johns says the practice of co-sleeping with infants needs to stop. Continue reading »
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