Co-sleeping with an 11 month old

Poor little Napkin! Of course you know that that Napkin is Louis Napoleon's little baby; perhaps you don't know that his mamma does not nurse him herself. I wonder does she know how much pleasure she loses by not doing it? I wonder does she know how sweet it is to wake in the night, and find a baby's soft little hand on her neck, and his dear little head lying upon her arm? I wonder does she know how beautiful a baby is when it first wakes in the morning, raising its little head...and gazing at you with its lustrous eyes and rosy cheeks, so like a fresh-blown dewy flower? I wonder does she know how delicious it is to give the little hungry rogue his breakfast? No, no; poor Eugenia! Poor empress! She knows nothing of all this. She has had all a mother's pain, and none of a mother's pleasure. She hires a woman to nurse and sleep with little Napkin. ~Sara Parton, 1857

Co-sleeping with Meo (11 months)

Our quiet little if-I-move-an-inch-I'll wake-myself-up side and back sleeper has become a I-can't-get-comfortable-I-must-try-every-possible-place-and-postion sleeper. Frankly, it's gotten a little nuts at bed time, and I finally understand this diagram:

and this one:

I really didn't get much sleep last night. For the first time, I wish we had a king sized bed. At one point last night, Meo was sleeping so his upper buddy was draped over my neck with his cute little head tucked under my chin and our cat, Theta, was sleeping so his poof was enveloping my head. We experienced "the roundhouse kick", "the neck scarf", "h is for hell", "snow angels" and "the stalker" (pictured in the first diagram) all in one night. In the morning, I asked Robbie how he slept. He said fine, except for a couple times he woke up because he got kicked in the face! Oh Meosaur.

Meo waking up next to his Daddy

Co-sleeping with Meo at 11 months

The one cool part about all this madness is that Meo has been able to put himself back to sleep on his own through all of this. I think I nursed him once last night after putting him into our bed (he spends the first half of the night in his own bed), and that was mostly to try to settle him down (aka sedate him). Otherwise, a little pat on the head or back, a sweet lullaby here and there, or just his own over whelming desire to sleep have gotten him snoring. I think part of the reason why he is now moving around so much (apart from the obvious reason: because he can move now), is that he now realizes that he has power over when and how he sleeps, and he's not quite sure how to deal with that yet. So he explores his possibilities. Most of the time he wants to snuggle up on my chest or stomach, which I think is really sweet. I love cuddling with him, and its nice to know he doesn't want to be near me just for my boobs and their sweet nectar of life. But boy is it an adjustment going from being on high alert and waking up every-time he moves to make sure he can breathe and is safe, to trying to ignore all the movement and trust that he is safe. That is why I hardly slept at all last night, and Robbie, apart from the occasional jab, slept marvelously. I feel like this is just going to be a little adjustment period for both of us.

Why don't I just keep him in his own bed for the rest of the night? Because I would miss him too much. I know that sounds ridiculous, since I am a stay at home mom and I see him all day long. But there is comfort knowing he is safe beside me, there is so much joy and having your baby snuggle up against you and cuddle, and it brings me peace to know that I am helping him to feel safe and secure; to develop healthy sleeping habits. Eventually, he will spend the night in his bed, but not until we are all ready. He has been doing so well with this gradual transition, I don't think it will be long (who knows). I'm sure one night, he just won't wake up and protest being left alone in the dark; he'll just reposition himself and go back to bed. But for now, we will all endure our nightly acrobatics because its what's best for our family.

Meo sprawled out in his bed at nap time

Before I conclude this post, I just wanted to share a video I had Robbie take last night. Lately, getting Meo to settle down for the night has been a challenge. We have been tweaking bed times and routines to help Meo go sleep at a decent time, but it has been a little challenging sometimes. After dinner, Robbie always gives Meo a bath, then we attempt to do a little massage/yoga to help Meo relax before putting him in his pajamas and reading some goodnight stories. We try to lay him down at first signs of tiredness, and then I nurse him to sleep. But now that he is super wiggly, once he has a full tummy he moves around and tries to lay on top of me, or shifts onto his belly with his butt up in the air. It's hard work trying to get him to relax into sleep; sometimes it takes an hour. But I've been being patient and observant with him, and we will figure this out together. Part of it may be that he is teething and part of it may just be its hard for his brain to quiet down from all the crazy developing he has been doing lately. So I'm sure things will calm down before long; they always do. Anyways, I thought I would share the video with you all so you can see for yourselves. I checked to  it over a few times to make sure you can't see any nipple action...in fact, there is almost no breast skin shown at all so don't worry (if that sort of thing bothers you).