Friday, 28 September 2012

co-sleeping

 
I made the decision to let Jannah sleep in our bed, right from when she was very tiny, we put her on a pillow between us so that she was slightly higher than us and our duvet. She was born in December and so it was cold at night. It makes no sense when every part of you is telling you to put your baby into your warm bed and every part of her is telling her that is where she needs to be, we have loved it. So how has this effected her, now that she is almost two .
She loves bed time and nap time, she loves cuddling and kisses but more than that.......

If she kicks the blankets off, I monitor the heat, should I open the window, if she cuddles closer, I make sure she is covered and I warm her with body heat and maybe close the window ect

If we have had a busy day or some other new adventure and she is restless, sometimes even having a bad dream, I think about what happened that day and the next time I adjust and monitor.
Sometimes she laughs, right from her belly and I thank God  that I heard it. When she does have a bad dream, she twitches and pulls a face and sometimes a waaaaa , which lasts about 2 seconds, she doesn't cry, not at bedtime, not when she wakes and certainly not in the morning, which is met with laughter and much joy.

I often think about the other babies around that are her age, that are put into a cot and the door closed on them and told "Go to sleep" what happens when they are cold or too warm, unhappy or happy , it goes totally unnoticed, do they cuddle and kiss their teddies the way Jannah kisses and cuddles me and Daddy ?

So to answer the questions that I always get, when do you get "me" time , well I put her to bed at 8pm and once she is asleep, I get up for two hours and then when sleepy, we cuddle into a warm bed :)
and sex ? Yes we still have sex, Jannah has her own bedroom and her own bed and Daddy lifts her and puts her into bed and an hour or two later she wakes and toddles through back to our bed. We always close and lock our door, so that ever one in the house knows during that time we have a "Do not disturb " and it means that we are free to relax for half an hour.

The other thing is, if her environment changes hotels/holiday cottages/camping it does not worry her at all as she is secure, only insecure children feel threatened.
In a world where there is so many children being diagnosed with mental health issues, I hold my children closer and slow down even more and go back to good traditional ways.