sleeping like a baby

Whoever coined the term ‘slept like a baby’ to describe a nice, long, deep sleep was surely on crack.

While my beautiful bundle does (thankfully) have a few periods a day when she sleeps like the proverbial, it’s short lived (especially at night – poor mummy!).

And much like her birth, how and where she sleeps is the opposite of what I’d hoped and planned.

I’d envisioned an ‘unspoilt’ child that slept in her own room/cot from day dot.  I would be the loving, yet somewhat strict, mother who fed her at predetermined intervals, and getting much needed beauty rest in between (or perhaps lunching with friends – tennis anyone?)

Then I read about the link between SIDS and sleeping in a separate room to your baby, and thought it best that Lottie share a room with us.  Cue quick trip to Baby Bunting to pick up a bassinette.

But who knew babies could be so damn noisy?  Ours sounds like a gremlin on steroids.  Grunting, sneezing, snoring, mewing and occasional cries – all this before the 2-3 hourly real cries for more food.

Darling dad jams his ear plugs in (and awakes the net morning asking if she slept through the night because he didnt hear a thing) but thats not an option for me.

So to get some sleep?  Ive ended up sleeping with Lottie on my chest.

This apparently also brings with it an increased risk of SIDS, the very reason I didnt want her in her own room to begin with.

But there is now way I could put her in a cot on her own now that Ive met the little beauty (maybe she would be ok with it, but I couldnt bear it).

Theres nothing better than snuggling up with her little body next to mine on these cold nights, and we both end up getting a better, longer sleep.  Less wakefulness and grunting from her, less in and out of bed for me.

Am I worried?  Not at all.  I wake up after sleeping like this in exactly the same position, reinforcing the notion that a mothers natural instinct will prevent her from rolling over on her bub (unfortunately dads dont have the same instinct so I cant share the duty/responsibility).

Im sure many will disagree but I feel like this is the most natural way for us to sleep, and also safe considering the other precautions I take (wrapping her up separately to our bed linen, making sure she cant fall off the bed if she were to roll off me, not wearing loose clothing, not going to bed drunk – are you kidding? I dont have time to drink! etc).

My dad gave me a bit of grief (the male prespective), making some thinly veiled comments about ‘not forgetting my husband’, the marital bed, cough cough etc but I think he comes from a less inventive time – you can find other times/places to do the deed (and to be honest there isnt that much of that going on, baby in the bed or otherwise – apologies if that’s just way to much information!).

I do worry that it might one day make it harder for her to transition to sleeping on her own but for now, it works for us.

This early phase is a special time and wont last long, so I want to make the most of it.  There will be plenty of time for my baby to spend hours alone in her room when she’s a teenager!