On nursing, co-sleeping and life with an infant

Patrick is teething. He may not actually get a tooth for months still but he is definitely working on it. So, he's irritable lately. That's not a lot of fun, especially because he is at his most irritable right around the time that Chris gets home from work. What a thing to come home to...a frazzled wife trying to cook dinner, a bored toddler tired of her brother's crying and a screaming baby. I try to remember that Chris has been working all day...even though I'm also ready for a break!

Patrick is a breastfed baby. I nursed Helen for 16 months and will probably do something similar with Patrick. Helen essentially weaned herself and I think I'll let Patrick lead the way when it is time. For some reason he's been rejecting my right side lately. If I try to feed him on the right he gets stiff as a bored and pulls away. He'll cry and cry and then as soon as I switch to the left side he calms right down and starts eating. I'm not sure why he is doing this...maybe it is related to teething. Perhaps something about the way he lays on the right bothers him? Hmm...I don't know. Thankfully, he'll usually eat on the right a few times a day so I'm not too engorged (or lop-sided!).

We are also semi-co-sleeping with Patrick, much like we did with Helen. I never thought I'd be the type to co-sleep. Before I had kids I really just couldn't understand why people did that. Now I get it. Really , a big part of me just believes that babies aren't meant to be away from their mothers for the first year or so. I just think they need that extra comfort and attention.

Patrick naps in his crib and he usually starts the night out in the crib. But at 1 or 2 he wakes for his middle of the night feeding and I bring him to our bed then. Partly this is because I am really not good at the lost sleep part of parenting an infant. Partly this is because Patrick really only likes to sleep on his stomach and that makes Chris nervous. He'd rather have the baby in bed with us than keep him on his stomach all night. Partly this is because Patrick sleeps so well when he is beside me.

I remember when Helen was a baby. I fought the co-sleeping thing. I spent night after sleepless night trying to get her to sleep in her crib. She just did not like the crib. So, it was either sleep in the recliner with her in my arms or put her beside me in bed. We finally gave up on the crib when she was one. We got a toddler bed and she actually slept pretty well in that...but she still ended up in our bed sometime in the middle of the night. This went on until she was around 2 or so. Now she's nearly 3 and she happily sleeps the night away in her own bed.

In the grand scheme of things, sharing a bed with a baby for 2 years isn't that big of a deal. And it is something I kind of enjoy. I love the weight of a baby by my side. I love how he bangs my side with his head when he's rooting around in the middle of the night. I love that I feel so much more rested in the morning when I haven't had to get up multiple times for a baby.

This is what works for us. Obviously, it wouldn't work for everyone. That's my parenting philosophy in a nutshell: find what works for you and do it. Who cares what anyone else says?