Just found this today and listened. Wow. The way you describe safely sleeping with a baby on your chest is something I had to do with my (now 23 year old) daughter. She spit up so much that I was afraid she would choke on it. So I slept in the center of our bed with her chest to my chest, her face to the side should she spit up. I put extra pillows behind my head/upper back so I would be elevated (in case she spit up). (One of those wedge pillows would have been so handy!) I made sure there was nothing on the bed that baby would be smothered by, etc. We slept this way for months. I found it was the only way to sleep because it was clear she wanted to be with me. (During that time, my husband slept in the same bed as our 2 year old son because our son seemed to have a need to sleep with someone.) We also co-slept with our oldest when he was a baby (now 25) because much as we tried to get him to sleep in his crib, he wouldn't be fooled. We also tried putting his crib right on the side of our bed with one side removed (like a co-sleeper), but he knew if he was in that crib right next to us - or in our bed. Then we had 6 more babies and the more I had the more I found it necessary to do the co-sleeping thing - to get sleep and to nurse and cuddle my babies. It's hard to admit that, because so many people say how unsafe it is. But my instincts were fine-tuned to my baby's movements. I would often also sleep in what you call the "cuddle curl", as it came instinctively to me. Baby could nurse to their heart's content, and I would occasionally switch sides so they could nurse on the other side. I have to chuckle because I do recall once being woken by one of my babies (as an older infant) waking me up by giving me a slap on the face. :-) I think what mainly influenced my co-sleeping were my instincts tuning into what my babies wanted/seemed to need, and by reading Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing by Sheila Matgen Kippley. In that book I learned that through most of time and in other countries, co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding were the norm. The U.S. seemed to be unique in having their babies sleep in cribs (I gave ours to my niece after our 3rd baby) and in its use of bottles, pacifiers, etc. Now I will say that each mom/family has to do what they feel called to do with their babies/children, so this is simply my experience. But I maintain that co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding (though they are not without challenges) were ways that I could mother my babies in a way that I felt at peace about. Rest assured, they do eventually move out of your bed - and even out of your house. :-)
The demo space looks beautiful!
Aw thank you so much! 💖
Just found this today and listened. Wow. The way you describe safely sleeping with a baby on your chest is something I had to do with my (now 23 year old) daughter. She spit up so much that I was afraid she would choke on it. So I slept in the center of our bed with her chest to my chest, her face to the side should she spit up. I put extra pillows behind my head/upper back so I would be elevated (in case she spit up). (One of those wedge pillows would have been so handy!) I made sure there was nothing on the bed that baby would be smothered by, etc. We slept this way for months. I found it was the only way to sleep because it was clear she wanted to be with me. (During that time, my husband slept in the same bed as our 2 year old son because our son seemed to have a need to sleep with someone.) We also co-slept with our oldest when he was a baby (now 25) because much as we tried to get him to sleep in his crib, he wouldn't be fooled. We also tried putting his crib right on the side of our bed with one side removed (like a co-sleeper), but he knew if he was in that crib right next to us - or in our bed. Then we had 6 more babies and the more I had the more I found it necessary to do the co-sleeping thing - to get sleep and to nurse and cuddle my babies. It's hard to admit that, because so many people say how unsafe it is. But my instincts were fine-tuned to my baby's movements. I would often also sleep in what you call the "cuddle curl", as it came instinctively to me. Baby could nurse to their heart's content, and I would occasionally switch sides so they could nurse on the other side. I have to chuckle because I do recall once being woken by one of my babies (as an older infant) waking me up by giving me a slap on the face. :-) I think what mainly influenced my co-sleeping were my instincts tuning into what my babies wanted/seemed to need, and by reading Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing by Sheila Matgen Kippley. In that book I learned that through most of time and in other countries, co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding were the norm. The U.S. seemed to be unique in having their babies sleep in cribs (I gave ours to my niece after our 3rd baby) and in its use of bottles, pacifiers, etc. Now I will say that each mom/family has to do what they feel called to do with their babies/children, so this is simply my experience. But I maintain that co-sleeping and extended breastfeeding (though they are not without challenges) were ways that I could mother my babies in a way that I felt at peace about. Rest assured, they do eventually move out of your bed - and even out of your house. :-)