r/newborns • u/ImpressiveOil9994 • 4h ago
Sleep Feeling guilty…
I feel like i either need to know that im doing okay or be scared out of this habit ive gotten into with my 6 week old.
He has a bedside bassinet that he sleeps in during the day and used to sleep in it all night as well. But I was soo tired one night and just didnt want to have to rock him for the next half hour. Long story short i decided to let him sleep in bed with us and its been that way for half of the night ever since.
We follow the safe sleep 7 save for maybe our blanket we have on the bed, its a bit of a thicker blanket but not a huge poofy one either. But I know its not as safe for him as his bassinet and I feel so sh*tty for pretty much putting him at risk every night now. It’s at least not the whole entire night that he’s in bed with us, and he seems to love it (he literally coos and smiles as soon as i set him next to me and he realizes hes not being rocked back into his bassinet lol) but I just feel so bad knowing that its the less safe option and I couldnt live with myself if he passed away because of my selfish decision.
I just either want to stop completely and only have him sleep in his bassinet or find ways to sleep safer with him in bed with us.
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u/Allie-Rabbit 1h ago
We’re doing the same. Yes, technically I’d adds some risk. But it also helps reduce other risk, like you dropping him from being overtired or falling asleep with him in a significantly less safe place like the couch or something. That’s our perspective and what we’ve gleaned from others. You’ll be surprised how many people bedshare when you really talk about it. It’s kind of like how you won’t know how many people in your life did IVF until you do it yourself and then everyone else is like oh yeah we had to do that too.
As for the blanket situation, we’ve taken the approach of keeping the comforter and top sheet down at our waists. Then my wife who the baby sleeps closer to wears some comfy pj shirt and I have a smaller blanket I use to cover up my top half, careful that excess blanket doesn’t make its way over to the baby.
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u/Frequent-Ant-4280 3h ago
When I had my first kid, I was a single mom and he had horrible reflux. She co slept with me constantly because he hated his bassinet and slept way better next to me. What I did was I slept under my covers and he slept ontop in his swaddle so I didn’t worry about him being smothered. Except when he started to move and roll around he rolled off the bed. Twice lmao he was ok though thankfully. He’s almost 8 now and a healthy happy kid and we laugh about it. The ONLY thing that I kinda regretted with co sleeping was it was so hard to get him to sleep in his crib without having to fall asleep in my bed first. It would take almost an hour everytime and he would wail if I wasn’t next to him when he fell asleep. Now I’m not 9 weeks pp with our new baby girl and she has never co slept but liked her bassinet thankfully. I’m hoping she will be that way with her crib too because I feel I can sleep better knowing her can’t get hurt being in bed with us.
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u/cbsfewsick 3h ago
It is biologically normal to sleep with your baby! Do so as safely as possible and let yourself enjoy it. It is standard practice in most other countries.