With more confidence in co sleeping (although I had more experience with the co than the sleeping bit… I was one tired mommy), I figured that it was time to try nursing in the side laying position. Once the breastfeeding pain had largely diminished and when my son was more sturdy (around three or four weeks). We ventured into the wonderful world of baby nursing while mommy can fall asleep in a more comfortable position (laying down instead of sitting up). This worked well and I was finally getting some sleep without having to get out of bed or sit up to nurse my son. On a good night he would awake one or two times to nurse. On more difficult nights he would need to nurse three to five times in the course of the night. All in all being able to nurse my son while laying down was on of the biggest benefits to co sleeping. I was also very happy to have my son with me and to wake up to his smiles and coos in the morning. We would take a few minutes to chat in the mornings before heading off to work (and graduate classes for my husband). We had a successful co sleeping relationship. After our son turned one (and no longer nursing through the night), we decided to try to sleep train him and get him on a more parent friendly sleep schedule. The first attempt was an absolute failure. He cried for ten minutes straight and we could not justify letting our son cry himself to sleep. So we continued co sleeping. I really did not mind that he slept with us, he still needed to nurse before going to bed so it made that last nursing session of the day much easier without crying. Several months later we tried sleep training again and once again it was a failure. As much as we would like him to sleep in his own bed, we could not let him cry himself to sleep. Now that we have a second child, we are in transition, but the co sleeping persists although its form has changed a bit.
(To be continued…)