Week 22 Spotlight
Sleeping Arrangements With Baby 💡
Eat. Sleep. Poop. Repeat. This is your baby’s routine for the first 4–6 weeks of life. And I have to say, some of the sweetest moments in your day (and night) will probably be when baby is sleeping. Because you’re exhausted. And you need to sleep. And baby needs to sleep. But where?
I know some crunchy mamas who never get a crib or even a co-sleeper. I know other crunchy mamas who have baby in his crib, in his own room, on day one. Again, it comes down to what’s best for each family.
We took the middle road. Our children slept in co-sleepers attached to our bed for the first several months of life. Studies show that this is actually safest for breastfed babies. I loved the idea of bed-sharing from the very beginning on into childhood, but my husband is… how can I say this? A delicate sleeper. So a noisy toddler in our bed wasn’t gonna work.
So, after about 2–3 months, our kids went into cribs in their own rooms. Well, mostly. We’ve had a wide array of sleeping arrangements throughout the years (currently, our eldest starts the night in his own room, but transfers to a little mattress on our floor before morning comes—long story).
The key about sleeping arrangements is to be flexible.
Bed-sharing, often called co-sleeping, has its pros and cons depending on the family situation. Truth be told, cribs are a recent invention, and most of the world practices bed-sharing.
Click here for more info on co-sleeping.
At the end of the day (or night), the best sleeping arrangement is the one where everyone gets the most sleep. :)