It's a Sleeping Miracle! Part I

My son is nearly 2 ½ years old and he still sleeps with me. I was one of those moms who said, I will never let my baby get started sleeping with me! But those long nights of nursing and rocking and crying … it is so hard. I fell asleep more nights than I want to remember in my big recliner chair. As comfy as it is for sitting in, I always woke up with a start, and a big crook in my neck. Ouch. And after my 2 hour catnap the baby was ready to nurse again, so the cycle continued.

Every once in awhile I began nursing baby L in bed, sometimes moving him carefully into his makeshift bassinet or battery operated glider afterward. But more often than not, we both fell asleep in bed. As time went on, I came to realize, believe, know that he was supposed to be close close close to me. He was a brand new human, who just days/weeks ago was living inside my body. Of course he wanted and needed to be close to my body all the time! I am home to him.

Now of course, he is a lot more grown up. But honestly I don’t mind sleeping with him. He is the cutest guy in the world! There are a few things I would love to change about the arrangement though.

Problem #1: He still wakes up and “bothers” me several times throughout the night. For those of you who have had babies, you know that sleep during pregnancy is hard, and sleep after that baby is born can be much more scarce. I feel like I’ve been running on little/interrupted sleep now for three years. I’m tired.

Problem #2: When I wake up and get out of bed, he usually notices that I am gone within 1-15 minutes and comes out crying to find me and bring me back to bed. This applies to nighttime, if I try to get up and do laundry or watch a movie or something, and also to mornings when I need to get ready for work. He notices that I am gone almost instantly. It makes it very hard to get anything done.

The really, really, really exciting thing is … I think I found a solution!!!! Check back tomorrow to confirm!