The Family Bed

What follows is an account of what has been happening around my house and my feelings about the family bed. You can share your feelings about the family bed in the comments below.

Ok, here it goes: Don't.

Our story: Alejandra has been sleeping in her room since she was 8 weeks old. At that time, her Mom went back to work and so we thought the sooner Alejandra was used to sleeping in her own bed, the better it would be for everyone. In our mind, Alejandra would benefit from uninterrupted sleep, benefit from a daily routine of a steady bed time (7:30pm) and it would allow us (the parents) an opportunity to reminisce about life 'before kids' as we swing back a glass of wine while doing laundry, dishes and picking up toys to semi0-reclaim our living room to pre-baby status.

A few weeks ago, Alejandra began waking up sometime in the middle of the night. Sometimes it was around midnight, sometimes around 3am. The causes varied from a runny nose, a cold and more recently teething (see previous post). This last reason was met with some excitement since we were sure our baby was the last one to start teething at 16 months!

Each time Alejandra would wake up, we would give her 'European 5 minutes' and see if she would put herself back to sleep, followed by a trip down the hall to check on her and pick her up, hold her, reassure her and put her back to sleep. Somehow, most likely due to exhaustion and convenience, these trips evolved from doing all the comforting and baby managing in Alejandra's room to walking back to our room and laying her in the middle of the bed. I think somewhere in the middle of the night it became easier to lay her down, barricade her between us and then we could catch a few zzz's while she fell back asleep. Which bring me to the point I wanted to make when I started writing this.

Who taught this kid to 'break dance' in her sleep?! (For younger parents, I've included this link as a reference to the term 'break dancing':

 

The Family Bed has been successful at providing the following results: Alejandra sleeps like a baby; the problem is, she's the only one! Babies, ahem, pardon me, Toddlers tend to move around quite a bit at night. I imagine they are growing dreaming, stretching etc... whatever the case, I found this little gem which explains the sleeping arrangements around my house quite nicely:

So if it's worked for you, fantastic. I'll take my bed back now and maybe, just maybe Alejandra won't be an only child!


     - Alejandra's Dad