Sometimes I hate to admit it, but I sleep with my baby, almost every night. My husband thinks I put Johnny into his own bassinet, and just bring him into our bed when he’s ready to nurse, but this isn’t always the case. Actually, it’s rarely the case.
I like having him near to me. In reality, it lets me sleep better because I can hear him breathing and feel him moving. When he’s in his bassinet in the next room, I find myself waking up every hour or two to go check on him, making sure he’s alright. And if he’s beside me and gets hungry, all I have to do is some rearranging of my night clothes to feed him, and I can go right back to sleep. Did you know that when mom and baby sleep together, they can actually become “sleep synchronized,” where their breathing and sleep cycles mimic each others, allowing better sleep for both? This didn’t happen with my oldest child, who also shared our bed. She kept me up all night and I was never able to get through the night without being punched, hit, or kicked.
And that time it had an effect on my husband and my intimacy. But not this time. Just the other day, I had a friend ask me if co-sleeping hurt our sex life, and once I thought about it, I would say it actually probably helps our intimacy. First off, I get more sleep, allowing me to actually think about being with my husband instead of just being a zombie throughout the day. Second, we tend to be more spontaneous. If the girls are at school and Johnny’s taking a nap, we’ll sneak off somewhere because we know it might be our only chance. Pre-baby bed, this was definitely not the norm. The norm was before sleep, in bed, lights off. Now it may be 2 PM, kids in school, meet me in the basement or 5:30 PM, Sponge Bob’s on, let’s take a shower.
Anyway, I like it. I knew co-sleeping would be beneficial for the baby and me, but I never realized it could benefit my marriage as well.