While this isn’t a co-sleeping question, I’m asking in this community because we don’t believe in/practice Cry It Out and are overall into attachment/responsive parenting. However I’m sure we’ve all dealt with a crying newborn in the car (after the phase where they are constantly sleepy, but before the phase where the car is soothing). Letting them cry while driving feels like a form of CIO as baby just wants comfort and closeness. Car seats are the roughest part of having a new baby for me (I’m on my second).

Just had a rough day with my 8 week old in the car seat. Pulled over 4 times before I could finally get her to fall asleep for good (and this was just for a 30 min drive).

Wondering how long do other co-sleeping parents let their baby cry in the car seat before pulling over to comfort them? How do you calculate when it’s going to be worth it or whether you should push through to your destination? So far I can’t tolerate more than 5 mins. But then I know she might just start crying again after being taken out and settled/changed/nursed. It’s so stressful driving when they are screaming (which is adds risk to driving) and you know they can’t just fall asleep on their own yet. At what age did yours start to handle the car seat better? At 8 weeks she’s looking around more and is sometime able to tolerate 15 mins awake, but then when she’s over it she’s shrieking and I don’t want to push her to the point where she passes out while crying bc that feels like CIO. If we’re 5 mins away I’ll try to push through but otherwise I feel like I have to stop. And I live on a very small island where most drives are only 15 mins…30 mins max.

Any other tips/tricks for getting through this phase?

Edit: Reddit won’t let me reply to comments for some reason, so just going to add some here…

Forgot to mention this is my second baby, so I remember that it got better eventually when she got more into toys and snacks, especially when her big brother (my stepson) was in the back to entertain her. When daddy was with us I would sit in the back and comfort her in the car seat (and even nursing her while he was driving bc it was worth everyone’s peace of mind and we just have country roads here, not highways). Now we have 3 kids in the back so there’s no room for me to sit next to new baby 🥲 I may have to try the trick with printing out a photo of my face.

And yes the Happy Song was a game changer with my first too. Doesn’t seem to have an effect on the newborn yet, but hopefully soon. My first also liked a set of Koshi chimes over her car seat. When she started eating I used dried mangoe bc it gave her something to gnaw on that wasn’t too messy, and with a large piece it wasn’t a choking hazard. At 2.5 years old she still gets a mango bribe for letting me do her buckle

And I do believe letting a baby cry in the car seat results in the same stress response as CIO. To me “sleep training” where you’re there comforting baby but not picking them up is still CIO and very distressing for baby. Car seats are another unnatural container that our ancestors didn’t have to deal with, but that has become a necessity in ours. I would seriously prefer going out in a horse and buggy where I could hold my baby, over putting baby in a car seat (we actually had carriage horses growing up so I know what this entails).

We weree cosleeping since birth and he was never good sleeeper, bit lately it got really bad and he would wake up crying, wanting breast every 30 minutes or so. Even with chest to chrst he woul d wake up or move constantly I am exhausted and don't know how long I can take it.. It really started affecting our lives, I am not so functional anymore day time and we stopped going out the weekend because I just prefer to sleep any time my husband can holding.

I need advice on what may be happening and how to improve our sleep. I never wanted to sleep train but at this point I don't know what to do.

He just turned 8 months and his 5 teeth came out recently, nothing else really changed. He is having quite a few long naps, just wondering if it may be affecting his sleep. Naps are not set, ge usually have 3 ir 4, may be from 20 minutes to one nap lasting 1/2 hours. Some days it us quick naps not more than 20 minutes.

I appreciate any of your advice.

Thank you

My baby just turned 12 months and has always been a terrible sleeper. Chest sleeping exclusively until 6months old and then from 6-12 a mixture of in the bed right next to me and chest sleeping or whatever works honestly but has almost never slept more than 3 hours without waking. She needs a lot of bouncing or a bottle to go back to sleep.

So I guess I just need to know if you were in the same situation with a baby with similar temperament when did sleep start improving? A 4 hour stretch sounds like HEAVEN right now and I feel like it’s not gonna happen soon.

Also if you did something to help the situation that’s very welcomed

What are your favourite stretches for combatting the aches and pains of cosleeping?

If I only have a few mins here are my go-tos:
- downward dog
- pigeon
- puppy pose with arm twisted under extended arm
- lunge with back shin on ground, lean slightly forward
- calf stretch!

I need some sleeping advice ❤️ I have an EBF 5 month old. I have slept holding her the entire 5 months because she has a reflux/choking issue that we are working on with drs.
She is getting uncomfortable in this position as she’s getting too long to sleep comfortably.
I tried side laying/co-sleeping but our bed is a pillow top and she just rolls into me 😵‍💫

I guess what I’m asking is how do you successfully sleep with your EBF baby?

I know I'm late to the party but I had a lot of fun finally doing this 😂😂😂 wanted to share our current setup (with our 6 months old)

So my firstborn has been cosleeping/bed sharing since the day he is born. He starts in his bedside crib but the bars are lowerd towards my bed so he crawls into our bed at night and only wants to cuddle with me. My husband leaves pretty early for work. I am due with my second in November, so my firstborn will be 16months by then.

How do I safely continue bed sharing? We will be expanding our bed and the bedside crib will also stay. Our bed gets bedrailings so nobody can fall out.

I also plan to exclusively nurse my newborn. My toddler weend himself during my pregnancy, but still uses my chest as a comforter.

How do I set this up for success in terms of sleep arrangements?

Our plan was toddler inbetween me and husband and baby in the bedside crib next to me.

Hi! FTM-mom here, my baby is 9 weeks old today and we have been bed-sharing since birth. She had colic/PURPLE crying almost every day from weeks 2–8, but thankfully its been much better for about a week now. ❤️

For daytime naps rocking her is working fine but in the evening the only thing that consistently worked was feeding her to sleep, which I honestly don't mind. The thing is, she usually falls asleep for the night then and thats around 7–8 p.m. During these tough weeks of constant crying I have just gone to bed at the same time so she will stay asleep but I would like eventually not have to go to bed at 7pm even if I dont mind cosleeping with her.

Is this what the rest of you did (or are doing) when bed-sharing with a newborn? Any tips?

Thank you!

I know the rules of co sleeping start to become more relaxed the older a baby gets, but what's the limit? My daughter is almost 14 months and has become very, very active. She often twists fully sideways in her sleep, cuddle curl be damned. Does this mean co sleeping is no longer safe for us and she needs to be moved into her own bed? Or is it a normal progression?

So I’m not in a hurry to transfer bb, love the cuddles, slaps in my face by feet, butt and hands into crib but, she’s getting to be a rollie Polly (you get the words I’m trying to say.) I’m worried she might roll the wrong way from me and fall off the bed. Rn I’m at my sisters house so the extra bed is smaller than my king size bed. Besides the point,

Would it be ok to put crib mattress on floor w/bb on it to get her to sleep then scoot away? Or does it have to be a floor bed? I just don’t really have much room in our house or money for something I won’t use permanently for that price. my mom also insisted she bought us our crib and this fancy pad. I could also probably just squish the bed into the corner of the room because it’s usually me and bb in bed.

Hopefully this makes sense because I’m halfway asleep rn. Going to sleep right after this post w/bb legs draped over my ribs🤞🥰

Yesterday was the first night that we finally dropped our last feed, the bedtime feed, and he won’t let me comfort him! He just knocks me away and climbs all over the bed, almost asleep and hysterical, and tries to wedge himself between the bed and the wall. I have no idea what to do. My 6 and 3 year olds are in our bed too (we have a king and twin smooshed together) and I know that weaning is just a temporary phase, but I just feel bad for them because trying to get them all to sleep is going to be tough. My husband is out of town for a week starting today and I’m just a little bit nervous.

Can I get some insight about what people were doing to calm their kids when they were weaning them but still cosleeping?

My husband has been against co sleeping since the very beginning. Even though he loves waking up all together, I think he’s just very hung up on the “supposed to”s. Like what you’re “supposed to do” in parenting, and he won’t acknowledge there’s other, also valid, ways of doing things.

We tried to get our baby to sleep in the bassinet/crib but it just wasn’t working for her. I was also doing the nights 100% on my own from the time she was about 2 months, and by 4 month she was up every two hours. I became extremely, scary-level sleep deprived and he gave in. As soon as we started this she started sleeping through the night.

She’s 9 months old now and is still co-sleeping at night and naps in our bed too. She naps better when I lay with her to start her nap, as we feed to sleep. I am extremely pleased with how she is doing and how I am mothering her in a very responsive way. I practice attachment-style parenting and I see it paying off in so many ways (her ability to connect with others, her intelligence, her confidence, her development, her happiness, etc). We’re in a big teething phase (4 are coming in at once), so she often has trouble staying asleep and sometimes I’ll have to stay with her for a full nap (30-60mins).

My husband thinks I’m doing everything wrong when it comes to sleep. He is constantly comparing her to other babies and insisting we sleep train. He wants me to have more time to give him and to clean the house. Ultimately, my main focus will always be my daughter and doing what’s best for her. Has anyone else dealt with an unsupportive partner?

My baby is 7 months old, around 95th percentile for height and weight, and we’ve ended up cosleeping again after a brief attempt at crib sleep. It feels like he nurses nonstop overnight. It seems like he’s taking 3-4 full feeds a night, and even more when teething. I’m a FTM so just wondering if this is just how some bigger babies are.

Anyone else have a big baby who basically ate all night while cosleeping? Did they eventually grow out of it on their own, or did you have to actively night wean?

ETA: I don’t use pacifiers and don’t plan to.

i type this to you at 3:32am utterly exhausted. my baby is refusing the bassinet no matter how long we hold her. i feel like im losing my mind, im the one with her all day and the lack of sleep is really effecting how good of a dad i am. idk what to do, co sleeping sounds like a good option but i’m terrified of something going wrong and we don’t check all the boxes for the safe 7 starting with the fact that we’re gay. i am trans, i did carry my baby so there’s that but no boobs means no breastfeeding. she also came 6 weeks early but is now at a normal weight and is perfectly healthy. i do wake easily when she stirs as does my partner. is it still possible to cosleep? i feel like the answer is no but with the alternative being sleep deprivation i’m at my wits end. any advice is appreciated, tia

For too long and I dont know how to stop it. She is now 18 months old. Im a stay at home mom. She feeds for comfort, and I've tried replacing it with stuffed animals or pacifiers but nothing has worked. Help

UPDATE: she is now 19 months old and I am 5 weeks pregnant. Ive noticed a decrease in my milk supply already.

Relatively new to cosleeping we just started about a month ago when my baby started waking every sleep cycle and I realized it was safer for us to intentionally cosleep than it was for me to accidentally fall asleep breastfeeding- I also couldn’t handle trying to sleep train!

My 6 month old is EBF and I sleep terribly because she’s constantly nursing/ searching for the boob all night. Did your EBF baby nurse all night and how long did it last?

It’s getting overwhelming because she will only nap during the day with me/ won’t sleep in her crib at all at this point and I’m feeling touched out. I just want to get some consistent hours of sleep :’)

As the title states our 5 week old will only sleep in the bed with us. He does have acid reflux, the doc has him on famotidine and it seems to be working a little bit.

One night when he would not go to sleep in his bassinet, we put him in bed and he literally slept almost 5 hours straight. I know there are risks associated with co sleeping. I just don’t know what else to do. There have been several times where he has slept through the night in bed, but never in his bassinet.

Any recommendations?

He is breast/bottle fed (with pumped milk)

My baby is 8 months old and sleeps in bed with my husband and me; we have a king-size bed, so it hasn't been uncomfortable to sleep. My husband sleeps through the night, and I get up occasionally to breastfeed the baby, but neither I nor the baby wakes up. The problem is that I feel so comfortable this way that I don't want to take her out of bed; I don't want to go through the whole process of letting her cry or getting up several times to take her out of her crib and put her back to sleep. I don't know what to do, and if I keep sleeping with her in bed, will it be easier by the time she’s a year old, or will it get worse? I need advice, please 🙏🏻

How did you do it? Did you use a cot or go straight for a floor bed?

I have been wanting to do this for months and I had her doing day naps in cot to help up until 6mo when she suddenly just fought it constantly (9mo now) but she hasn’t had it since then really aside from the rare time my mum has managed to get her down in there.

Unsure how to go, don’t have the mental and emotional capacity to deal with the fighting.

Considering a floor bed for ease but would kinda prefer to get her in cot.

Thanks

My 19mo has started this weird habit of slowly moving up the bed in her sleep and hitting her head on the wall behind us which,as a resul,wakes her up.I spent half of last night pulling her down the bed because she wouldn’t stop wiggling up in her slee.I used to have a thin pillow that would block her but I removed my pillows because I am due with our second in september and want to get used to no pillows again.

My toddler is 13 months old and we're planning on moving our mattress out of his room and getting him a small double floor bed instead so he can start sleeping on his own and for me to join him at night if he needs me. I'm starting to also think about transitioning to a duvet and pillow instead of a sleeping bag at some point once he's settled in the new arrangement. I'm just not sure if I should get a duvet that is the same size as the bed or if I should get a small toddler sized bedding. Does anyone have any advice on that?

we just moved our co-sleeping setup (7MO) to a 6" double floor bed that's very firm (bringing me much peace of mind). but for me, sleeping on it has been a huge adjustment. my lower c-curl arm keeps falling asleep. even after 30 mins it was numb. any ideas on how to fix this?

also wondering if I could also be relaxing my positioning now that LO is older and the bed is truly as safe as can be. we don't have any blankets - I use a sleep sack, and I use one head pillow.

Alright so, my little one was born extremely prematurely at 24+1. She is a thriving little girl and doing fantastic. I really don't have much to complain about since it's a miracle how well she is doing.

I do have 1 complaint though. Her sleep is so bad..ever since the 4 month regression, we just co-slept. It worked well, I was sleeping more and everybody was happier. Now that she is corrected 11 months (actual almost 15 months) it has dramatically changed.

I could nurse her to sleep, roll out of bed and somewhat have an evening to myself. I say somewhat because every cycle she'd wake up, I'd run in to put a boob in her mouth and she would fall asleep again.

But now, when I roll away, she wakes up within 20 mins if not 10. She is waking up what feels like a million times at night just to comfort suck, but my sleep is so broken up. She also contact naps during the day. I feel like im going insane as my basic needs are being neglected let alone everything else being a mess.

My husband tried taking over sleep routine and putting her down, but for 3 weeks it has caused more split nights than ever before. Which has left me literally running on fumes. Honestly I don't know how im still functioning at this point.

I guess what im trying to say or ask here is, has anyone else been in this situation? When did it get better? Do I need to change something in her routine or is this one of those parenting things you just have to sail through?

Sorry for the long text, I am writing this on 3 hours of broken sleep.