Zzzzzzzzz....

Whenever I meet a pregnant Mom I always give her one piece of unsolicited advice - If you ever want to sleep again, breastfeed and co-sleep. Most of the time they will show some concern for the safety of their infant when sleeping in the same bed with Mom and Dad. I must admit I shared the same concerns when my first child was born. In fact, Michael and I originally planned to have our son sleep in a crib. Well, he did end up sleeping in a crib...just not in the traditional sense.

The truth be known I didn't even know the word co-sleep. My Mom actually convinced us to try co-sleeping, she even taught me how to nurse lying down. So we adopted the family bed. Even against the "you'll regret it later" advice of other family members, all we knew was that life was much easier (ie. my baby and I were both happier and well rested) when he slept with us and could nurse throughout the night. I got so used to him suckling that it didn't even interrupt my sleep. Michael and I felt much more at ease having our son close by, knowing he was safe and felt loved.

For many months the baby slept in between my husband and I in our bed. As he grew, we sought out another sleep solution. I knew all I needed to do was visit the MDC (mothering.com) discussion forums to find what we needed. That is where I discovered the sidecar technique - it has worked wonderfully for both of my babies.


This is a crib that has been sidecared. (Not mine, I "stole" this pic from another crunchy mama.)

Directions:

1) Remove one side of the crib.
2) Scoot crib next to your bed making sure the mattress heights match up.



3) Secure the crib to the bed rails of your bed with bungee cords.



4) Place a pool noodle in between the remaining crib wall and the crib mattress, to insure there is not room in between the mattresses.



With this setup you get the benefits of co-sleeping AND your own space. This also works great for us now that we have TWO kiddos who like to sleep with Mom and Dad!

If you are interested in finding out more about co-sleeping read this article by Dr.Sears.

PS- Our son is now three and half and we do not regret bringing him into the bed with us. It has been a beautiful bonding experience for us all. We learned that parenting doesn't pause when the sun goes down. We have chosen to continue providing love and sercurity to our children during the night, just as we do during the day. I am sure it has also saved us many hours of needed rest.