When my 3rd child was born I never intended to bed-share. We had planned, as we had with our other 2 children, to room-share for the first year of their life, but things changed 2 months after she was born.
I have been struggling with an undiagnosed health issue for 2 years which can cause some troubling neurological symptoms. This particular day I had lost feeling in my legs for a brief moment while walking down the stairs and I fell and broke my coccyx and sacrum (very luckily I was not holding a child).
I was exclusively breastfeeding my daughter and it was very important to me because I was not able to breastfeed my other 2 children for long (6wks for 1st child and 4 months for 2nd), I wanted to continue as long as I could. Given my broken bones I was having great difficulty nursing because I was not able to sit down and was afraid this would hinder or completely stop our nursing relationship.
Before the fall I fed my daughter sitting up in bed and would place her back in her bassinet when she fell back asleep. Since I could no longer sit down I needed to find something, which is when I discovered the beauty of nursing while lying down. I was able to feed my daughter without causing pain from my broken bones. This is what brought on our bed-sharing. I was lying down with her in my bed 4 times a night to feed her and we became so comfortable. We both slept better and were able to extend our breastfeeding relationship. Bed-sharing saved my breastfeeding relationship with my daughter and forged an even deeper bond.
She is 13 months old now and both our breastfeeding and bed-sharing is going strong. We have a rhythm to our sleep that allows us both to get better rest. I am slowly and tenderly trying now to transition her out of our bed (we've set up a mattress for her beside our bed) but will still continue to bring her into our bed when she wakes up for her 4 am nursing session.
I would love to hear your experiences with co-sleeping or bed-sharing. Is it something that has worked for you and your child?
She is 13 months old now and both our breastfeeding and bed-sharing is going strong. We have a rhythm to our sleep that allows us both to get better rest. I am slowly and tenderly trying now to transition her out of our bed (we've set up a mattress for her beside our bed) but will still continue to bring her into our bed when she wakes up for her 4 am nursing session.
I would love to hear your experiences with co-sleeping or bed-sharing. Is it something that has worked for you and your child?
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