I Cherish My Right To Bitch.
AndyZ is co-sleeping just like his sister did. I know that this fact is probably the main reason why he’s not yet sleeping through the night. Or even more than 3 hours at a time. Being right next to us surely makes his sleep patterns lighter so more likely that he wakes to eat periodically. Also – if he wakes even a little bit – I tend to assume he’s hungry if it’s been more than three hours since he ate. In reality? If he were NOT in bed with us? He’d probably stir a bit and go back to sleep.
But – is any of this motivating me to get him to sleep elsewhere? Like the bassinet at least? No. Because now that I’m back to work…I feel like I need that cuddle time at night even more than ever. Is that insane? I mean – he’s sleeping through most of it – why do I cherish that time so much? Why is that closeness suddenly so necessary? And since I’m practically doing this to myself – does that take away my right to bitch about being tired? Because I bitch A LOT about being tired. And I really don’t want to lose THAT either.
What? I’m supposed to be sleeping more than three hours at a time? I missed the memo.
Hee… AndyZ does look a little dazed and sleepy in that photo. He’s probably thinking, “Geez, Mom, let me get some sleep already!”
I am cracking up. We just had a similar conversation in our house this week.
We cosleep with our 2.5 month old. Mostly because I am lazy and do not want to have to get up out of the bed to get her & lay back down to nurse. Anyway – I love looking down at her little fuzzy head during the night, or having her close to me and just listen to her breathing softly. Right now is the perfect time for cosleeping. Once she’s mobile and kicks hard, or is able to crawl & get out of the bed, I’ll probably be ready to move her. But until then, I just enjoy it. They grow up too fast anyway.
Now, are you going to blog about the after work routine next? Because I’m struggling with that one. I head home & want to just sit & cuddle the baby & listen to my 6 y.o. chatter constantly and run wild through the house. Sheesh, I became so attached to those girls during maternity leave!
I co-sleeped up until about a month ago, LilB was 13 months. Mostly because he was in the hospital for the first two weeks of his life. He woke up very little during the night at first (I’d have to get him up sometimes) and then he just started to wake up a few times.
I miss him sometimes now that he’s in his crib (and I work from home!) but he still wakes up about 4 am…
I think since we’re the moms, we get to bitch. No matter what, lol
I totally remember that feeling. I was VERY hesitant to give up my night-time snuggling, even though I knew deep down that we’d all sleep better if I did.
And I think it in NO way negates your right to bitch. Bitch on, sistah!
Our kids slept in a bassinet in our room until they were too big for it but we never tried co-sleeping. All the horror stories scared me out of it. It sounds like you, as well as AndyZ, might sleep better if you move him to the bassinet. Did NikkiZ do better when she switched to sleeping outside your bed?
I’m going to confess this to you and the whole entire internet right now: We STILL cosleep. Al is 2.5 years old, and neither he nor the Mr. nor I see an end in sight. And it’s all for the exact same reason you mention–we need that extra snuggle time. Fortunately for us, Al sleeps very calmly. If he were a kicker, we’d probably not have lasted this long.
We co-sleep, but I try (and most often succeed) in getting her to start the night in her pack-n-play (which is right next to our bed). Some nights I move her back to her bed ofter she eats and falls back asleep. Other nights I am so tired I fall asleep while she eats (and hence she doesn’t get moved). The only problem is that now that is can crawl, I am afraid she will escape the bed and hurt herself. So, she sleeps between us. Unfortunately, one night she decided to lie perpendicular to us – so we didn’t sleep much. But, some day we will get her to sleep in her own bed and for more than a few hours at a time!
I’m a SAHM and I’m still mostly cosleeping with my 19-month-old. At this point she’s in a twin bed up against ours. I just like having her close and getting the chance to snuggle with her. She does wake up once or twice a night still, but since she’s right there, it’s not too bad. An on the nights when she wakes up more often, I figure she’d be doing a fair amount of that even if she were in her own room. But our bedroom isn’t really big enough for a queen and a twin, and when it gets to the point where we need to turn on our heater this winter, we’ll have to have her bed in another room–it’s a fire hazard the way it is now. I get lonely and sad just thinking about it.
He is so cute! Love those little toes!
This post was me last October. Sofia did not sleep through the night, and I totally cherished our nights together. Just sleeping next to her, cradling her little self, smelling her hair, and feeding her as necessary was wonderful. Later, I started putting her to sleep in her crib, but by the time I went to bed, she was always with us. We both knew when it was time. I finally felt ready, and she was just being bothered by our night-noises by then. We transitioned easily.
He is way to cute! Why would you not want to snuggle him all night!
When he starts kicking you, you might want to move him to his own bed?
Your allowed to be tired, and your allowed to bitch! that comes with the job of “mum”
don’t lose your sanity over being so tired!! that could happen ya know!
He is getting so big…snuggle him when you can…..
There is a lot of research that shows that babies NEED to be light sleepers because their central nervous systems are still developing and not ready for deep sleep. The book “Our Babies, Ourselves” by Meredith Small really gave me piece of mind about many of my parenting decisions, particularly co-sleeping.
But still, I hear you. I have not had an entire night of sleep ALONE in over 3 years now. I am very grateful that the kids sleep better with us, though. They generally sleep like rocks, so I try not to complain.
Oh, me too! I thinking “Doing it the way I want to, for as long as possible” is key to my long-term satisfaction with this whole parenting thing. And I include the cuddling and the complaining in that.
if it is any consolation, all four of my kids were the same way until they were six months old!
I would want cuddle time too! He is so cute.
I’m in exactly the same boat. My Evie is co-sleeping. I do start her out in the pack ‘n’ play beside my bed, but once she wakes up the first time she’s in bed with us. She probably does wake more often being right next to me, but I think we both need the snuggle time right now. I get very little time with her in the evenings after work and those night time snuggles really make a difference.