Okay…so we’re only twelve days into this parenting adventure, but a few things are starting to click into place. I really get it now, that each family is different and it’s all a matter of finding what works for you and your baby. <\/p>\n
Thumper and I roomed in at the hospital without separation, because that was very important to me. Perhaps a bit rough because I was post-op (trying to figure out how to get him out of the isolette at night without popping my incision when my ankles were still tethered to the bed by compression cuffs was especially interesting), but it wasn’t a negotiable point for me and I’m really glad I did it. From night one, he made it clear he’d much rather sleep all day and do nursing marathons at night, thankyouverymuch. As a result, I didn’t really sleep much at all for the three nights we were there. Nor had I slept the four nights previous, thanks to the Contraction-a-Thon that had been labor. Normal newborn stuff, this not sleeping at night. Waking up at night and sleeping during the day was the in-utero norm, and I didn’t expect him to change right away to suit my preference for sleeping at night. Though I hoped. <\/p>\n
We got home, and now Billy was in on the no-sleeping thing. We did that until Friday night, and then we tried something new. Thumper had been (not) sleeping in a co-sleeper<\/a> attached to my side of the bed. Attachment parenting<\/a> makes so much sense to us, and that’s pretty much what we’re taking as our guidelines, but I was nervous about having him right in bed with us, in terms of safety. Well… Friday night, rather than propping myself up in bed with the Boppy to nurse him and then putting him in the co-sleeper after he fell asleep (at which point he’d invariably sleep for twenty minutes or so and then wake up wanting to nurse again–never a big nurse at those wakings, just a quick snack for comfort and then drifting off to sleep and occasional halfhearted little sucks), instead I nursed him lying down and let him drift off to sleep snuggled up against me, between me and Billy. We arranged the sheets so they wouldn’t go above his waist, made sure there weren’t pillows near him, and let him sleep there. I fell asleep, Billy fell asleep, and we stayed asleep for three hours, until Thumper started to wake and root around. A real-length hunger nursing still lying down at that point, and he went to sleep again. He woke up for another feeding three hours after that, and then since it was Saturday the whole family slept in another three hours. Everyone was happy and well-rested and it was quite cozy to have him in bed there with us.<\/p>\n Ditto for Saturday night. Ditto for last night. I hope I’m not jinxing myself and my sleep when I say that I think we’ve found what works for us, for now. It means the marathon nursing happens during the day now, but that’s fine with me. <\/p>\n The labor was really rough, and I’m recovering from surgery etc, but at least I’ve got a champion breastfeeder here who’s letting me get a decent amount of sleep. I’ll take that trade-off. Breastfeeding and sleep last longer than labor and delivery, anyway.<\/p>\n PS: If you’re thinking of leaving a comment warning against the “dangers” of co-sleeping, don’t bother. Not interested in hearing it and the evidence is pretty strong against your point. Thanks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Okay…so we’re only twelve days into this parenting adventure, but a few things are starting to click into place. I really get it now, that each family is different and it’s all a matter of finding what works for you …<\/p>\n