The Adventures of Born-Again Co-sleepers

So R has been sick all week and he is miserable. It started as croup and then migrated to his chest and nose... again. Thankfully our borrowed woven wraps arrived yesterday so we’ve begun adventures in wrapping, but this kid just wants to be held and cuddled and does not want to sleep. R has never really been known for his great sleep habits, but since the time change, he has been waking between 3:30-4:30am. He has maybe slept past 4:30am twice since the beginning of November. Add being sick to this and he was not only waking early, but also up a couple of times in the night. So, a good friend made a suggestion, and I quote,

"I was going to suggest giving co-sleeping another whirl but I didn't want to seem pushy... If he naps well while sleeping with someone than it makes sense that he may sleep well at night. Lots changes from 4-18 months and maybe he won't wake so easily.”

So, two nights ago, we decided to give it a whirl...

By the time we got R to sleep, he was positioned something like this.

As we started getting ready for bed, not washing faces or brushing teeth for fear of waking him,
Neil joined him on the bed.

Then hubby got in to bed... in his tux of course.

That left me with about a space just big enough for my head on my pillow and then I had to wrap my body around R and my legs around the cat. I believe I was only able to do so because of years of yoga.

Sadly, after about 1-2 hours of this, I started coughing and was waking R and so I took my leave and slept in the guest room until R woke up at around 3:30am. I then got up and made him a bottle and brought it to him in our bed. That’s when the magic happened: R went back to sleep until 5:45am!! HE SLEPT PAST 4:30AM!!! GLORY, HALLELUJAH!!

For night number two, we decided to do things a bit differently. We decided to put R down in his crib and see how long he could last there. We figured that would allow us to brush our teeth and get ready for bed, and keep him being able to at least sleep somewhat in his own room. R was able to sleep until about 10:30am on his own before waking. Hubby then prepared a bottle while I quickly brushed my teeth and got ready for bed. He brought R to me in our bed and we curled up for co-sleeping round 2.

Sorry it’s a bit blurry, it’s a nighttime iPhone pic, but things started out promising...

And then this happened. He ended up sleeping across my throat. I had to wait until he was in a deep enough sleep to pick him up and place him, vertical, between the two of us.

By about midnight, I had R lined up in the middle of the bed, head at the top of the bed and feet pointing down. Neil Catrick Harris was sleeping directly below his feet and hubby and I nearly had our normal amounts of bed real estate left. R woke up a couple of times in the night coughing and had to be soothed, but for the most part, he was out from midnight until 5:30am. After the previous nights of walking up and down the halls, swaying in his room, sitting by his crib and soothing him in the chair in his room for up to 2 hours in the middle of the night, midnight to 5:30am felt like a great sleep!! Looks like we might just have things figured out until we’re ready to introduce... the toddler bed!!