Co-Sleeping

I really meant to write about all the stuff we did today, but what i find myself thinking about is co-sleeping. Co-sleeping wasn't anything we planned on. In fact, I in my overly anal Virgo way researched the best sleeping options for babies born with addictions. I read about how hospitals in England and Australia use this nifty thing called an Amby which sort of bounces gently up and down as they move. It is sort of a hammocky thing but I could see how it was safe and enfolding and would be great for a preemie as the literature said. We bought one and brought it with us to Chicago for KC. It was great as far as a sleeping place for him, and we used it every night there and began using it at home when we returned.

However his milk allergy was not properly nor promptly diagnosed. We repeatedly brought our concern to our Dr but he thought the projectile vomiting and wheezing were a GERD thing that he would grow out of. Wrong. One night he almost choked to death, aspirating his own vomit. Because the nifty Amby held him snugly in the hammock he could not turn himself to even semi-clear the airway. We did of course, leaping out of bed like maniacs, hearts pounding for hours afterward. It was the first night he slept in bed with us. Back to doing research I also found that there was pretty compelling evidence that the risk of SIDS in preemies was reduced by co-sleeping. They tended to match their breathing patterns to the parent they slept with. There was less chance of "forgetting" to breathe, which sounds weird but apparently that is one theory on what happens.

By the time the milk allergy thing was resolved he was a fixture in bed and we all slept so well that we didn't bother doing anything to encourage his sleep elsewhere. He slept through the night so easily, and if he was ill or hungry, it was a cinch to care for him. People looked askance at us but we were okay with that. We love to camp and it was easy to camp with KC. We had a cool air mattress and put him between us. He stayed warm and cozy and loved camping.

A year passed. Two years. KC had zero interest in sleeping on his own. He slept like a puppy does, all sprawled in and around and over his "pack." Our house is very cold in the winter and that compounded the problem. My little heat seeking missile wanted to snuggle on freezing nights and who could blame him. People were really looking askance at us now and I kept trying to make their worries not be my worries. And he really was and still is, such a good sleeper that I felt there was much that was positive to be said for co-sleeping. So much so that when Lissa came, I didn't think twice about co-sleeping with her as well. However Miss Elisabeth had other ideas. She liked her space, likes no noise when she is resting and basically the princess let her loyal subjects know that they were not welcome to sleep with her except on special and rare occasions!

So here we are. KC is 5. And suddenly, he is interested in his own bed. Not his own room, mind you. (laughing) But his own bed. Not every night, but quite a few of them. Sometimes he cries in his sleep and winds up crawling up from the bottom of the bed where his toddler bed is, to our "big bed" and finishing the night with us. But last night he slept ALL NIGHT in his own bed, waking in the morning proud of his accomplishment. He will hasten to assure you if you ask that "it is not as easy as it looks" to sleep in your own bed. So I think that like so many other things in raising kids, they all have their own blooming cycle.