The perils of the family bed
Here’s something you may not know about me if you only read me here (if you read my personal blog, you may have figured it out already), but I’m a co-sleeping fan. It’s not because I think cribs are evil or anything. But as a breastfeeding mother, I just found it easier to have my baby close at hand (or close at boob!). My oldest slept in a crib less than ten times in her entire life, although now she sleeps in her own bed in her room with no trouble. My youngest alternated between the bassinet and the bed as a baby, and then did the same when she was too big for the bassinet and we moved her to the crib. Basically, she slept on her own for half the night and then when she woke up in the middle of the night, I’d bring her to bed. It’s good survival because it kept me at the “exhausted” level rather than the “I think I’m going to die from lack of sleep” level.
We had the crib in the bedroom and it partially blocked our closet; one day a couple of months ago, my husband moved it awkwardly while trying to get into it, caught the leg inside the door frame, and when he tried to shove it back he broke the leg. Yeah, I’m married to the Hulk. :)
Without a crib, my little one became a permanent co-sleeper. I’m not worried about it, she sleeps anywhere when she’s tired so it won’t be the end of the world to move her to a big girl bed.
However, there are some pitfalls to the family bed. One is the joy of waking up to an elbow in your throat or a leg tossed across your face. Another is having your toddler wake up first and decide the best way to get your attention is to jump on top of your defenseless stomach. Being winded is way more effective than an alarm clock, I guarantee.
For the past few nights, the dilemma has been the fact that I can’t stay in a deep sleep. This is directly related to the fact that she likes to sleep on an odd angle near the edge of the bed and twice in three nights she fell out of bed. The first time she bonked the night table so she cried. The second time she just laid on the floor, confused until I picked her back up. Now I find that every time she moves even half an inch, the tiniest twitch, I jerk awake, ready to grab her so she doesn’t fall again.
We do keep a big pillow on the floor to soften the fall, thank goodness for that. But I think we either need to get her her own bed or invest in a bed rail. Falling out doesn’t seem to bother her, but it’s sure disrupting my sleep!
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