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One down, hundreds to go… ?
Published March 11, 2009 | 
We just finished our first full night of keeping Maia in the bed with us. I loved it! The first time she woke up, she kicked Chris to let him know she was hungry — I didn’t even look at the clock, I just latched her on and we fell back asleep within what felt like a minute or two. The second time, I picked her up so she could feed from the other side, and looked at the clock — we had been in bed for FOUR HOURS. So I decided she should probably have her diaper changed. Of course, this woke her up more and since she was gassy, we were up for an hour (this child is eternally, obnoxiously, and painfully gassy). But when we crawled back into bed, we slept for another 3 hours before she decided to wake up for what seems to be the final time for the night, and honestly, seven entire hours of sleep is pretty damned good (I still tried to soothe her back into sleep again tho!)
The problems I found were these: first, we were both soaking wet. I assume my boobs leaked all over her and me when she fell asleep while feeding. Second, lying on my side still bugs my left hip, regardless of which side I sleep on although it takes longer to be irritated when I’m on my right. Third, unless I roll her and myself around, she’s always going to be feeding off the same side when we’re in bed. This isn’t too big of an issue, except for the fact that I’m paranoid to have her lying anywhere other than between Chris and I, in the middle of the bed.
Still, I am looking forward to trying her in bed the whole night again and seeing if I can replicate last night’s success or even improve upon it. Chris is still asleep so I can’t ask him what he thought of it — hopefully he considers it as positive of an experience as I do.
Congratulations! The family bed is wonderful! I co-slept and breastfed four babies, and loved every minute.
I put a mattress pad under the sheet to help with leaking – that will get better in time. As far as switching around, you could look at a bedrail, or get a noodle (those things that kids use in swimming pools, long flexible tubes, you know?) and put it under the fitted sheet right at the edge of the bed. Baby can’t roll over it. Or, sometimes I would completely flip around (feet to head) if baby was unusually mobile and I worried about having them on the outside. There’s a solution there somewhere…
Good luck and congrats again!
We kept a full size bed in Dottie’s nursery so I stayed in there with her for the first couple months…it was so easy just to throw her on the boob and fall asleep..,. I gradually started sneaking her into her crib and when she was sleeping four or five hours at a time I went back to sleeping in my own bedroom… it worked beautifully…
We have a futon in the nursery, so if she has trouble when we transition her into the crib, I’ll be able to do that same :]
I like the noodle idea! It seems like one of those things I could do that would annoy the piss out of my husband, but oh well.
I never mastered the art of falling asleep while nursing. But it really was lovely to have her there with us. I’m so glad it worked out so well for you!