I had heard so many people talking about how proud they were with their kids sleeping alone in their rooms from early childhood, that I really didn’t imagine that there could be another way. I was so convinced that our daughter would sleep alone as early as possible, that I had never quite questioned the idea of a new-born or of an imaginative toddler having to cope with an empty bed.
Therefore, having in mind all the “good” pieces of advice of how things must be, we used to put our baby girl to bed on her own and even placed the bed in a different room when she was 6 months old. Luckily for us and even more luckily for her, we didn’t have the heart to leave her crying at any time, so we did not proceed with letting her cry herself to sleep. She used to fall asleep in my lap while breast-feeding or in my arms, and then we would gently place her in her bed. Afterwards, I would always go to bed in my husband’s arms, for I wouldn’t imagine ME sleeping on my own.
Soon after we “positioned” her in her new room, we encountered more nocturnal wakes than before- perhaps the teeth growing or something else, but no one was getting too much sleep those nights. It didn’t take me too long to realize that it was not alright- after waking up in the middle of the night, she would usually fall asleep quite difficultly and my sleep was also challenged. It was but natural that we take her to sleep in our bed; at first, I would bring her in between us when she woke up at night and she seemed to be sleeping perfectly till morning. When we moved into our new house a couple of months later, co-sleeping was already familiar to us.
She is now 2 years old and is still sleeping in our bed. We positioned the bed near one of the bedroom-walls and it is me who sleeps in the middle. She has her own pillow and little blanket and it is quite a wonder how smooth our nights can be. We are definitely getting more sleep and there is nothing more beautiful than seeing your baby when you first open your eyes in the morning. That’s something you just cannot describe, it must be lived.
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A couple of days ago we were in the mountains in our hotel room. After dinner, Anne fell asleep and we enjoyed some movies and some snacks. At about 11:30 pm we went to bed too and this time she was sleeping in the middle. I have no idea what it was, but I suddenly awoke an hour later. Both Anne and my husband were sleeping but I was perfectly awake and conscious. So, I touched her forehead. She was burning. I got up and as she started to easily moan in her sleep, I wetted some towels and woke her up. My husband was already awake and he understood quickly that our daughter -who went perfectly healthy to sleep- was having a quite difficult fever issue. I explained to her that I was going to put some wet towels on her legs and a little wet towel on her forehead, because she it was too hot in the room and she needed to be chilled. I have no idea if I explained it correctly to a 2 year old, but that was the first thing that came to me.
After putting the towels on her, I suddenly remembered that I had also brought some fever-reducing medicine with us. I gave her the syrup and turned off the lights. She was still very hot and as we arrived home the other day, the thermometer showed 40 degrees C.
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I do not know what would have been, were she not sleeping with us. Would I have still woken up and would I have still checked on her? I really, really do not know. But it’s definitely not the first time. She had some stomach-flu episode a couple of months ago and it first manifested itself in the middle of the night when she started vomiting. Yes, I dare say, luckily she was sleeping with us.
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Far be it from me trying to convince everyone that this is the best way it could be. However, for us it is the best way at this particular moment. And if you’re still not convinced that co-sleeping might also work for you and do you good, I recommend that you also read this great article.
Diana
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