Co-sleeping with a crawling baby is an adventure. Snuggling up with your tiny newborn is easy to imagine. Even someone that is not an advocate of co-sleeping has likely fallen asleep with a newborn on their chest so they can understand the powers of the sleeping baby.
But the sleep arrangements now that the goose is loose? It’s a whole new game. A bedrail helps to contain her. I am teaching her how to get off the bed, dangling her little legs off the side until they hit the floor instead of diving head first. You get used to waking up with a little person sitting on your arm. Or your face. Or standing on your pillow.
Lots of people that co-sleep with their newborn begin to transition him/her in to a crib around this time. If you’re not wild about having fingers in your nose or getting kicked in the groin it could be the wisest choice. Unless, of course, you ever want to get any sleep. As a newborn Lucy slept like a rock. She woke to nurse once, maybe twice, in a night. Since she has started crawling everywhere, cruising along the furniture and battling with the dog for his new bone she doesn’t have the time to devote to eating during the day. She will nurse a handful of times during the day but it is a quick snack. She does the bulk of her eating at night, when there is nothing better to do. I can’t blame her.
If I want to get any sleep at all and she wants to marathon nurse all night I do not see an end to our current sleeping arrangements anytime soon.
People love to ask “So, how is she sleeping?” and ordinarily I say “Great!” or my all time favorite “Like a baby!” because any answer at all only invites advice. And for the most part unless you are a been there done that co-sleeper/breastfeeder/baby led wean-er (ha! Baby led weaning is the term for skipping pureed food and letting your baby eat solid food when they are ready. Baby led weiners – I have no idea what that entails) than even well-meaning advice falls on deaf ears.
I slept poorly throughout my pregnancy. Lucy is nearly eight months old. So, it is fair to say I have not “slept through the night” in well over a year. I am used to it. And while it is no secret that I am vehemently opposed to sleep-training an infant I am dangerously close to letting myself cry it out. Me. I might cry it out. Face down on the floor while Goose climbs on the dog. Fish can look after her for an hour, right?
Because I am tired, guys. Nursing a baby takes a lot out of you. And not just sleep. Water. I drink at least a gallon of water a day. I am pretty good at getting myself a glass of water. I went in the kitchen to get a glass of water just now.
Yup. A bowl of water. Sigh. I’m tired, y’all.
Excitement on the side 