For as long as I can remember - actually, since the day our twins were born - my husband and I have never done co-sleeping with our children.
Well, it's happened quite by accident - and by accident, I mean my eyes are hanging out of my head from sleep deprivation, and I am that desperate I nestle the screaming baby in between in and try to soothe the bub.
Now. Here's the thing. Hubby sleeps like a rock. A bomb could not rouse him. And yet... when a baby (not always crying) is placed between us, he wakes instantly, and tells me to move the child back to the cot, and later, the 'big bed.'
Sometimes, this annoyed the crap out of me (suggesting the opposite of what you do in a situation when your baby is screaming her lungs out always leads to an argument, doesn't it?) but mostly I was always relieved. He was taking control of a dire sitaution and eventually, the child always settled, and it always works.
Today, our kids never come to our bed in the middle of the night. Ever. And I absolutely love it. When we tuck them into bed, they don't come downstairs. Don't ask for water. Just... go to sleep. This is not a smug statement! This is years of hard, consistent work from the hubby and I. My husband has always said to me, "No. This is our bed. This is our sacred space. It is just for us."
And I really get that. It's the one place in the entire house which is just for us. In every single way.
But I won't lie. I do crave sleeping next to my child. Feeling their breath and their intertwined limbs and their soft hair and faces right next to me. Bliss, I think.
Well. Not quite so. Early this morning, my son awoke. He was a tad unsettled.
"Babe, do you wanna sleep in Raf's bed, and he can sleep here?" I say, finally getting the chance to sleep with my little prince?
"Sure," he says. And we do the bed-swap thing.
I am SO happy.
And that lasts about ten minutes.
He keeps hiding under the blankets. Checking to see if the sun has come up yet it's 1.30am! No, it hasn't!). And just generally waking me juuuust as I am about to drop off.
After what seems like an hour of this, I have HAD IT.
I raise my voice and tell him, "Enough! Go to sleep."
He does. And early in the AM, he says, "Hi Mummy! I'm awake!"
"Okay, great," I say, half-dead-to-the-world. "Go to Daddy."
I sleep for a few more hours, and when I awake with that dreadful broken sleep feeling, I vow to never entertain that fun-in-theory co-sleeping thing again.
I love the rule my husband has made, and I will not be breaking it again.
What are your thoughts and experiences on co-sleeping? Share below!
