Why You Should Think Twice About Co Sleeping
Before my daughter was born my wife and I had a number of discussions about whether or not we were going to have our newborn sleeping in the bedroom with us. My wife was staunchly against this and I felt like it was something that was extremely important to do, at least for the first few weeks after our baby was born. I had done a lot of reading about co-sleeping and the risks associated with it. Therefore, I did not want our baby to sleep in the same bed with us because of the high risks of suffocation or other potential accidents that could happen. However, I did want her crib to be in the same room as us so that we could monitor her and ensure that everything was okay.
This turned out to be a huge mistake and I was totally unprepared for how difficult it was to sleep in the same room as a newborn baby. If you are expecting a baby for the very first time and have never heard a newborn sleep, let me tell you, it is quite the experience! The very first night our daughter slept in our bedroom, she made choking and gagging noises the entire night, that had us popping up out of the bed every couple of minutes to make sure she wasn’t gagging or suffocating to death. On one particular night after my daughter finally went to asleep peacefully, my wife and I eventually fell into a pretty deep sleep for a couple of hours. In the middle of the night, my daughter suddenly started making her choking noises again and I literally jumped straight out of the bed to make sure she was okay. This was an extremely startling experience and the next day we decided to move her into another bedroom and to just use a monitor.
What we found out from our doctor and others we knew who had babies is that it is perfectly normal for newborns to make these types of noises. As a new parent, the most important thing is that you get an ample amount of sleep. I understand perfectly well about the concerns you may have about ensuring your baby is safe, but I can assure you that the best thing you can do for yourself and your newborn is to have him or her sleeping in another room. Trust me when I tell you, that you don’t want to find out the hard way like I did, that sleeping in the same room with a newborn is a miserable experience.
Related posts: