Sleeping Evolves

Since Jude was born we've been a co-sleeping/bed-sharing family. It has it's pros and cons. The Pros being easy night nursing and cuddles. Cons being Jude is a bed hog.

Jude has a crib in the other room which is technically, "his room", but he's never slept there. He generally takes his naps in our bed and sleeps in our bed and occasionally moved to the play yard in the corner of our room. Well as of recently he really dislikes the play yard... I think he's a bit of a bed snob after sleeping in our comfy bed for so long. While he likes sleeping in our bed sometimes he has trouble falling asleep while we are next to him. He gets excited when he see us and then fussy because he's tired but wants to play.

So today for his afternoon nap I decided to test out his crib. He was pretty sleepy and we got a new diaper on, nursed and I laid him down in the bed. He looked up at me as I told him I loved him and I step out of site. He just laid there for a bit staring at the colorful dots on his bedding and over his crib. Within a few minutes he was sound asleep... no fuss. He slept for two hours and when he awoke I found him happy in his bed playing with his feet and singing his baby songs.

Tonight I decided to see if he wanted to sleep in his crib again. We got ready for bed as usual and I laid him down and again, no fuss just movement as he got comfortable. We'll see how things go tonight and I'll let you know in the morning.

I'm not a proponent of the Cry It Out method which is why I've been hesitant to move him to his own room but so far he seems to like his new space. Joe has already mentioned he's a little sad to see Jude move to his own room as family cuddles are nice. But I don't think we've seen the end of cuddles just yet!

We're co-sleeping family.

The most recent issue of Mothering Magazine has a few articles about co-sleeping that I've recently been reading. And up until now I never really understood what Co-Sleeping was all about.

Apparently, there is a difference between Co-sleeping and Bedsharing.
Co-sleeping: sleeping in the same room, in close proximity to one's child, but not necessarily in the same bed.
Bedsharing: sleeping in an adult bed with one's child.
According to these definitions we are a 100% Co-sleeping family and I'd say about an 80% Bedsharing family. Jude sleeps in the play yard bassinet next to our bed most of the night but inevitably at some point ends up in our bed.

I'd never considered us to be a co-sleeping family but after some research I've learn that the benefits greatly outweigh the prospect of Jude sleeping through the night by himself in the other room.

Some of the benefits of co-sleeping are:
A lower risk of SIDS
Promotes Breastfeeding
Babies sleep better when they feel secure
More sleep for parents
May positively effect child's self esteem long-term

Co-sleeping is actually alot more common than I suspected. 70 percent of new parents beshared at least occasionally. And the idea that infants should sleep alone in their own room is actually a recent and culturally unique phenomenon. In almost all cultures around the world babies and parents co-sleep. Additionally, I learned that most babies don't sleep through the night and the fact that we expect an infant to have the same sleep patterns as an adult is a source of much misinformation. "Babies do not follow adult patterns of behavior in other areas, such as feeding, motor abilities, and daytime sleep, so it's logical that babies' nighttime sleep patterns will also be unique and evolving."

I'm glad we are a co-sleeping family and I feel that Jude is a secure and happy baby because of it. Sometimes I wish I could have a whole night of uninterupted sleep but I know the time will come when Jude doesn't want to cuddle up next to me in bed so I better enjoy it while I have it.

For more information about the statistics and benefits of co-sleeping and bedsharing checkout Mothering.com articles about Sleep.