Chirp!:

    Tuesday, July 17, 2007

    Co-Sleep-endence

    Our co-sleeping is getting a little out-of-hand.

    It's my fault, I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I *l'adore* co-sleeping.
    The Master is so cuddly and snuggly and he loves it as much as I do.

    But he has his own room, and his own big-boy bed, and look, he does sleep there .. but since winter has hit ( and those winds were ferocious last night, and then a possum ran across the roof right over his bedroom, and it even scared AB, so we let him come into our room. )
    It seems at the moment he's in our bed 3 nights out of four.

    And it's sooo much fun in our bed, and the kid knows it.

    Our routine:

    All hop into bed
    All with books. We read, we chat.

    Some tickles, some tricks ( like when we hid Moo under the blankies the other week, and sent Daddy down to the loungeroom to hunt for him for ages, while we laughed like loons and giggled and conspired under the sheets at our little prank.. Fun )


    Nothing like that goin' on in the smaller bedroom.
    It's all sleep business there. Not fun.


    Sooooooo, last night, we had to make a pact to make the parent's bedroom less funpark and more business of sleep. This probably means I will never read/finish another book ever again !

    Perfunctual: we go to bed, the lights go off. We sleep.


    It was my first night last night, so hopefully I can be forgiven for the slumber-party whispers and giggles after the lights went out.
    Cold turkey is so hard.


    Here's a diagram of us all in bed:






    Daddy gets his side all to himself ( if he read my blog, he'd deny this, but it's true .. except on the occasions the boy sleeps sideways with his feet on Daddy's face )

    But mainly I half-hang off the bed, the boy spoons me, and the cat ( yes, that thing at the bottom of the bed is a cat ) spends the night trying to get as close to my face as possible, and after many rebuttals finds space near my tummy/legs.

    This makes any changing of sleep position in the night quite the obstacle course - removing an arm here, a small leg there, using my hyper-flexibility ( thanks genepool ! ) to 'Harry Houdini' around the cat, and settling in again.
    Repeat several times throughout the night.

    Strangely, none of this bothers me .. which makes it an even harder habit to break.

    and I don't wanna .. not just yet .... maybe after winter ..... ;)

    34 comments:

    Stomper Girl said...

    I *NEVER* let the kids in our bed because they kick and squirm and sigh and take up all the room.

    But you do make it sound kinda fun.

    LBA said...

    I think I need to grow up and stop having slumber parties...

    I do love it though.

    Anonymous said...

    Well, I certainly can't blame you last night. That wind was completely nuts.

    Gina said...

    We co-slept with both. Our bed is pretty high though so I started to get nervous. Most other cultures co-sleep as a norm. The time goes so fast anyway.

    Holly Muppet said...

    We love to co-sleep when Holly actually sleeps, but most of the time when there's 3 in the bed, no-one gets any sleep at all! We do have lots of play time in the big bed on week-end mornings though, I'll have to try the one about hiding something under the blanky and sending Daddy out to hunt for it! Good one!

    LBA said...

    uli - and now we've got thunder and hail. Looks like another night with 3 in the bed.

    Gina - this is my excuse - one day he won't want to cuddle, so i'm grabbing all I can now :)

    Holly&scolly - I hope you see this, as i've never been able to return visit your blog. Email me !

    meggie said...

    Weekend cuddles for our kids when little.
    Now it is co sleep with 2 nice warm dogs bodies! lol.
    They are half poodle, so they are not shedders, though Leo seems to a little in Summer!
    And they were most welcome last night!!

    Anonymous said...

    My 13 year old son will still turn up in my bed form time to time. I broke the main habit of sleeping with us (on my side) when he was nearly 10! He eventually got came to have too many elbows and knees.

    Once, aged three, he wet our bed, but managed to get my Pete really covered while remaining quite dry himself. On waking in the morning he frowned and said, "DAD! You've wet the bed. That is disgusting."

    Anonymous said...

    Oh, and I'm glad you said that it wa a cat in the bed. I really wasn't sure!

    Stacey said...

    Every morning about 7.00am we end up with two adults, two children and between 5-10 stuffed toys in our bed.
    Its bedlam (pardon the pun), but really a lot of fun as well.
    Not so good on these cold mornings with squirmy cold toes!!

    Suse said...

    We were strict with #1 (except when he came in for a 5.30am feed and stayed till we got up at 7am), but numbers 2 and 3 were in our bed till they were three years old (each).

    PS. I knew it was a cat. (Brownie points?)

    joanne said...

    The thing that I thought was strange wasn't the co sleeping but the fact that you all go to bed at the same time???

    Melody said...

    Oh how this post made me laugh. Monet went through (what seemed like months and months) of waking up during the night in her room and not being able to fall back to sleep, so I'd pop her in bed with us. And Lyndon would NEVER move over so it was Monnie and I on one side and him on the other.

    It used to annoy me but I did love watching her sleep.

    But when we moved here in March and we got a new bed I made it a rule that she was not to sleep inour bed. And she doesn't. A handful of times I have collected her when she'd wake and pop her i with us which I do love.

    I especially love it when it is just her and I in bed. I guess this is part of the reason why I'm looking forward to our impending Victoria visit when we share the bed at my parents. And why I look forward to our regular nights away as the 3 of us share a bed and lots of laughs.

    Nothing wrong with slumber parties. They are lots of fun after all.

    (Love your diagram too! Haha!! *snort*)

    caramaena said...

    We sort of co-slept with Chickie when he was a baby but he was really too squirmy to do it once he got older. His cot was able to be converted into a toddler bed, so we took one side off and attached it to our bed, so he had his own space but he was next to me. Once he was more mobile I got tired of being kicked.

    When he comes into our bed now, it's way too uncomfortable. I'm in a similar position as you - including the cat at the feet!

    Plus I still get kicked...

    dottycookie said...

    I think you should do whatever works for you. We co-slept for at least part of the night up until very recently. And on scary nights, we still do. I love it, and I shall miss it when they no longer want to be seen with me ;-)

    Pendullum said...

    Hey that's what our roomused to look like...
    Except for massive dust bunnies... we have massive dust bunnies...
    and then this would look like my past...
    I miss those days now oddly enough...

    Damselfly said...

    Sounds sweet.

    I sometimes end up half off the bed even without my baby there!

    And I knew that was a cat. Love the pictorial!

    sara said...

    Okay, I am STILL laughing at your diagram. I particularly love that two of the stick figures look blissfully happy, while the third looks a bit dubious of the whole enterprise. That is HI-larious.

    Ms Brown Mouse said...

    Mr Brown banned co-sleeping with the cats only because we ended up right on the edges with the furries taking up all the middle bit - but when it's just me, both are let back in!

    Victoria said...

    Understandable, I would love for my boys to sleep in our bed, but they will have none of it even when sick. So, consider yourself lucky.

    Joke said...

    Madness.

    MAD-NESS.

    -J.

    Michelle said...

    I have a very strict rule in our house -I don't care where anyone sleeps so long as they sleep!!!! It is interesting each morning to see who is where!

    muser said...

    Thank god for king size. From around 4am we often end up with 4 in the bed including the 6w old, the 3.5yo and no pets. :)

    KPB said...

    Oscar used to always come into our bed. It caused the term "heels of death" to be created.
    Felix never did, he'd just scream for us to come and comfort him in his bed (in which your diagram is the exact replica of the sleeping position).
    I love Jasper sleeping in our bed.
    And Grover is the best at it.

    crafty said...

    I see no reason why you should change, if you are happy. Our littlest has recently got in to the habit of coming into our bed, which is fine unless the other two decide to join in, then it is mayhem, and no sleep for anyone. They all want to be next to me, and none of them want to be touching each other. I am bothered by sleeping half off the bed actually, perhaps you are half cat yourself?
    I thought your cat was a dog.

    crafty said...

    Oh and Oh My God, is that really your bed? If it is, I'm afraid come the revolution, you'll be cleaning my house. ;) http://soozadoo.wordpress.com/2007/05/25/come-the-guest-revolution-crafty-mum/

    Anonymous said...

    You see, I can't believe it took until right down here with Crafty and me for someone to say OMYGOD is that really your bed.

    I've read the post twice looking for the hint that you used a catalogue shot... She-it. You and Stomper both showing off pristine showroom bedrooms this week. I may cry.

    (as for the co-sleeping? I'm such a light sleeper that if I could kick my HUSBAND out and just have him there for conjugal visits I'd be happy!!)

    LBA said...

    Crafty/Bec - it's a catalogue shot ;)

    My bed is here:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/7711688@N04/849128798/

    I prefer sleeping with my son than with my husband. Hint: one SNORES and needs to be kicked all night. And kicked hard.

    I don't kick my son.
    HTH ;)

    My float said...

    We're co-sleepers and it's a heck of a lot of fun. Even when his feet are wedged in my ribs or he pulls my hair.

    And boy, does that kid keep me warm! I reckon he'll move back when he's ready.

    Anonymous said...

    I knew it was a cat. At once. Our cat is a heat seeking floozy and tries to sleep on top of my legs.

    I'd love for Grace to sleep with us ocasionally(or at least come in for a cuddle in the morning) but she is little miss independence these days... Pity, it sounds like so much fun. I love waking up in a tangle.

    Heather said...

    Ahhh that picture cracked me up!! I love sleeping with our kids, though they only crawl in around 5 or so.

    tommie said...

    I am co-sleeping now....both start in their own beds around 8....by the morning one or the other is in bed with me. When my husband gets home, I don't know how we will all fit!

    Gotta get that baby love in now!

    lazy cow said...

    We (meaning me and MY pillow) end up with at least one out of two children in bed after midnight. Plus the dog sleeps on MY feet, while the husband has half a bed, and still whinges.
    It is so toasty and warm though. And they won't be doing it when they're 18 (will they??!)

    Anonymous said...

    this post made me laugh like a banshee... sounds so familiar! Thanks for sharing :) :) :)

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