Before having kids, I was a firm believer that babies no matter how young or old should NOT sleep in bed with you. When my baby was a newborn I was terrified of all the crazy stories I had heard about babies suffocating because their parents had allowed them to sleep in their bed. I was so paranoid, that I really did a great job of never allowing that to happen...
However, when my baby got a little older (around 6-12 months), I slowly started to cave.
My little guy would go through phases were he would wake up once or twice every night. I got to the point where I felt so sleep deprived that I started just laying him in our bed and giving him a bottle. Whether he was hungry or not, the sucking motion would usually put him right to sleep and then I would slyly sneak him back into his own crib (not wanting him to start thinking that he could sleep all night in our bed).
Then somewhere along the line, I completely caved. I started letting him stay all night in our bed every time he woke up. Which was crazy because my husband and I NEVER sleep well when he is in our bed (it must have something to do with the fact that he twists and turns all night, and sometimes he will even try to play and starts kicking or smacking us in the face).
Every morning this happened, I would promise myself that it wouldn't happen again... but it's funny how your brain works differently at 3:00am when your delirious and halfway asleep.
Luckily, we have yet to get to the point where we let our little guy sleep with us every night. In fact, usually after so many consecutive nights of this awful slumber I get so fed up that I let him just "cry it out" in his crib. Once I do this 2 or 3 nights in a row, he goes back to sleeping through the night, but something always triggers the middle of the night wake-ups and the cycle begins once again (for example, when he is sick, teething, or if we go on vacation).
I really hate hearing him cry... I mean seriously, it takes a lot of guts to be mean to this face.
What do you think? Any advice?
Do you (or would you) let your baby/toddler sleep in bed with you?
