Why won't you sleep?!


Co-sleeping like many other things pre baby was something we definitely weren't going to do. I felt so strongly I refused to even consider buying a co-sleeping cot and opted instead for a second hand stand alone moses basket. 





After our baby flew into the world we soon discovered that people were not kidding when they say babies don't sleep and ours was certainly no exception. After a week or so of having pretty much NO sleep at night our midwife informed us that our baby must have day and night mixed up as she slept beautifully all day (we even had to wake her for feeds) and then from midnight she was wide awake! We began sleeping in shifts. One of us would have a few hours in bed and the other would stay downstairs with the baby, ride it out and hope for the best and then when the non sleeping person couldn't take it anymore we would swap.  





This went on for what felt like forever. You see we didn't have any trouble getting her to sleep, we just had issues getting her to sleep in her moses basket. She hated it. We tried everything and I mean everything to entice her to sleep in there. We even had one blissful night where we wedged the change mat in the moses basket and another where she slept in a massive fluffy blanket but when we would go and try and repeat this for the following day it wouldn't work. 




We found more and more that when we were putting her to sleep we were falling asleep ourselves with her in our arms and on more than one occasion we awoke with her in the bed, with the fear of SIDs and with the health visitors advice ringing in my ears I was in horror with what we had done frantically googling and scanning mums net for anyone else co-sleeping. 




We fell into a pattern of Layla sleeping in bed with us but because of the taboo surrounding co-sleeping we were reluctant to tell anyone and the the people we did tell? Well we were met with a frosty reception. Lots of people told us we were making a rod for our own back by letting her sleep in bed with us but in truth she was sleeping and we were not only finally able to sleep in the same bed but also get small chunks of sleep! These chunks of sleep however were not the comfiest and I was so conscious of both mine and the OH's position in bed I still was unable to sleep further. By this point I was ready to revisit the co-sleeping cot. 




In a sleep deprived daze I made my way to mothercare to purchase the next to me cot. I asked the women serving me if this would guarantee my baby to sleep. I was desperate to get her out of our bed and into a cot to sleep. It wasn't immediately the miracle cure I had hoped for. I spent many a night hanging inside the cot trying to get her to sleep in there. 






All this time we had been trying to get her to sleep on her back but she would forever wake herself up by jerking her arms about. I had begun placing her on her front to sleep during the day when I could keep a close eye on her as a quick google will tell you again this is something not to do due to the risk again of SIDs. I was too scared to place her on her front at night even though she slept so much better on her front during the day. After speaking to several family members and friends about placing her on her front to sleep at 14 weeks old I spent a string of sleepless nights watching over her sleeping on her front but do you know what? She slept and she slept in her next to me cot and only woke for feeds! 




We discovered some more tricks to her sleeping, we played white noise for her, she prefers a blanket to a sleeping bag and needs it to be pitch black at night time with nothing in her cot. She also needs her dummy to help her get off back to sleep. 




Layla is now 6 months old and still sleeps on her front in the next to me cot beside the bed. She still wakes once a night for a feed but I can cope with that. Sometimes we have to place something of ours in the cot to help her sleep and sometimes like all babies she refuses to sleep. We are not quite ready yet for her to move into her own room but I am hoping the transition will be a smooth one! 
 






7 comments:

  1. I hope it's a smooth transition for you both too. I can totally empathise with the trial and error of trying different things in the hope of getting the little one off to sleep (and staying asleep). I remember in the early days sitting for hours with the actual Hoover on...the app was too quiet! Glad you've found some tips that work for you...hopefully what you've discovered will help others too - the HV advice isn't always the most helpful and your experience just proves that you know your own baby best! Xx

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  2. Lovely post! Totally agree with the taboo on co-sleeping, I just told the HV "He has a crib next to our bed" which to be fair, he did. He just didnt sleep in it! Ha ha! He was a fab little sleeper til about 4.5 months,in his crib but had to sleep on his front due to reflux.

    Now he sleeps next to me in our bed. I think he wakes in the night? maybe once? or twice? and is fed? I honestly don't know. and that's why I like it! I could get up and go to his room and shush and pat and feed him a million times a night, or i could roll over and pull my top down once or twice! I know which works for us.

    I'm planning on writing about co-sleeping on my own blog soon, would it be okay if I included a link to this post?

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    1. That would be fab! Let me know when it's up and I can have a read and retweet for you. It's funny how when you start talking about co-sleeping you find so many mums do it! Layla is now in the cot next to the bed but most nights I will move her into our bed if she is unsettled and it's so much easier while she is still waking in the night like you say much better than having to get up and go into another room, get them out of their cot etc. Xx

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  3. I have co-slept many times! As soon as my husband jumps out my baby takes his place. I love the closeness we have.

    Such a lovely Blog!

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    1. Thank you for reading! I must admit I do love a snuggle in the morning!

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    2. Thank you for reading! I must admit I do love a snuggle in the morning!

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  4. Finally managed to do my post!

    gave you a little quote and shout out http://mummysamsach.blogspot.co.uk/2016/08/co-sleeping-or-no-sleeping.html

    thanks for sharing your perspective on co-sleeping and inspiring me to write about it too x x

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