Co-Sleeping

I know this is counter cultural but we co-sleep with Little.  We have had quite a few different co-sleeping arrangements since Little was born and we have never slept with her in a different room than us.

During the first three weeks, Little slept in our bed with us.  It was so wonderful to spend that time bonding with our tiny baby.  At about three weeks, I was feeling like I needed some more time without a baby attached to me.

From that time until Little was four months old, she slept in a custom built cradle right next to our bed.  The cradle was built for my cousin (he's now 14!) by my grandfather.  It was right next to the bed so that I could reach in and touch Little or I could rock it if she needed motion to keep her asleep.  When she was four months old, she was getting too big for the cradle but it was really sad to move her out of it.

Now, Little sleeps in a crib next to our bed.  Occasionally, she still gets to sleep in bed with us if she is fussy.  She loves to nap during the day in our bed between Husband and I.  At night, I can still reach my arms through the bars of her crib to hold her hand or put a pacifier in her mouth.

Sleeping in the same room as our baby and even sometimes in the same bed has never been an issue for us.  Little is a good sleeper.  She generally only wakes up at night when she is hungry.

We have never had to worry about not hearing the baby if she wakes up at night.  We don't use a baby monitor at night.  Co-sleeping in the same room has been shown to dramatically reduce the risk of SIDS.

I love that Little is in our room with us.  Husband is a very light sleeper and he still enjoys having Little in our room with us.  Co-sleeping (but not only in our bed) has been wonderful for us.

Do you co-sleep with your child?  How does that work for your family?