plz help!

[cobysmummy]

my 7.5 month old son has to be rocked to sleep at night,.. which is cute and a way to spend extra time with him but he is getting so heavy and it takes so long mine and his dads back hurts!
he has also started being unsettled at night and will only re-settle in bed with me and his dad... i dont want to get him used to sleeping with us as im scared he might get squashed or trapped under the blankets...
any suggestions would be great!
Thanks

[Jaileth]

How about a rocking chair? So you and your partner can sit down and have your back supported while you are rocking him to sleep. Or, if he's still in a cot, and it has wheels, pushing that backwards and forwards like you do with a pram.

Not much, sorry. Hope you find something that helps you!

[red crayon]

i used to rock spencer to sleep until i started getting back aches. it may be time to bite the bullet and start teaching him to settle by himself. if you're not ready for that, the rocking chair suggestion is a good one.

[JanetF]

What a lucky baby being parented to sleep as nature intended :D Cosleeping really does provide more sleep for mamas and you can do it safely like 70% of the world does ;) It's only westerners who think babies should sleep away from their parents. I promise you'll sleep better! You can check out the cosleeping threads on bubhub for all the safety advice. We follow safety guidelines for cots so beds are no different. If we meet babies needs, we don't struggle to parent. Their needs are very simple - lots of human contact. Rocking is nice but there's also patting, cuddling, lying in bed with, breastfeeding, singing and loads of other options. If bubs is heavy a sling will ease that too. I carry an 11kg baby regularly in a sling because it distributes the weight so well that you don't feel it.

Here are some links to info on sleep.
Gentle sleep resources.
http://askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp
http://www.naturalchild.com/articles/sleeping.html
Pillowtalk – helping your child get a good night’s sleep.
http://www.mothering.com/articles/new_baby/sleep/fleiss.html

Selfsoothing
http://www.mothering.com/sections/experts/hunt-archive.html#self-soothing

Cosleeping
http://www.mothering.com/sections/experts/buckley-archive.html#co-sleep

No Cry Sleep Solution
http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth/

15 ways to help your baby sleep
http://www.pinky-mychild.com/features/baby/sleep.html

Crying for comfort:distressed babies need to be held.
http://www.awareparenting.com/comfort.htm

Controlled comforting…
http://breastfeeding.asn.au/bfinfo/crying.html

Why not to CIO
http://www.mothering.com/sections/experts/hunt-archive.html#cry-it-out


Australian Association for Infant Mental Health Inc.
Affiliated with the World Association for Infant Mental Health
www.aaimhi.org
Position Paper 1: Controlled Crying
Issued November 2002; Revised March 2004
AAIMHI - Controlled Crying Principles
It is normal and healthy for infants and young
children not to sleep through the night and to need
attention from parents. This should not be labeled a
disorder except where it is clearly outside the usual
patterns.
Parents should be reassured that attending to their
infant’s needs/crying will not cause a lasting “habit”.
Waking in older infants and young children may be
due to separation anxiety, and in these cases
sleeping with or next to a parent is a valid option.
This often enables all to get a good night’s sleep.
Any methods used to assist parents to get a good
night’s sleep should not compromise the infant’s
developmental and emotional needs.

Suggestions for alternatives to controlled crying
Fleiss PM, Hodges FM & Phil D (2000). Sweet Dreams: A
Pediatrician’s Secrets for Your Child’s Good Night’s Sleep. Los
Angeles: Lowell House.
Hope M (1996). For Crying Out Loud! Understanding and Helping
Crying Babies. Randwick NSW: Sydney Children’s Hospital.
McKay P (2002). 100 Ways to Calm the Crying. Melbourne: Lothian.
McKay P (2002). Parenting by Heart. Melbourne: Lothian.
Pantley E (2002). The No-Cry Sleep Solution. NewYork: Contemporary
Books.
Sears W & Sears M (2003). The Baby Book: Everything you need

[Foxymoron]

You can always have the best of both worlds :) Set up the babies cot in your room as a side car ( you take one side off and face it to the bed) once you little one is snoozing happily you can move him over into the cot if you are afraid of squashing him. My babes have all co-slept from birth with no problems... Like Janet said, just follow the safety guidelines.

[Imogensmum]

As a daycarer- I WAS totally against co-sleeping! I believed it would cause all sorts of problems!!!

But---- that was before i became a mummy!!!! My 4 mth old daughter sleeps in bed with me most of the time! She will settle in her cot but i was finding that i was up and down all night resettling her! But 2-3 nights a week i can resettle her in her cot- I believe this is because she knows i will get her out if she gets too upset! So she feels more secure! Does that make sence????

I see it that if she is picked up when she cries- next time she will last longer because she knows that when she does cry mummy will come and get her!

I say if co-working works for you- do it! Happy baby=happy mummy! But i totally agree with the side cart cot option too- that might make you feel more confident with her! (but I was the worlds heaviest sleeper- think bombs dropping and i'd sleep through it- now if my DD sighs for too long in her sleep I wake- it is an inate sence!!!)