I’m an advocate of co-sleeping with my kids. It just seems to be a normal thing to do. When I was young, when I have got a precious new toys, I would want to put it beside my pillow and sleep with it. This goes the same with my kids. They are just so precious to me I want to keep them by myself even when I’m sleeping.

When JS was born, because I was worried about SID or squash the baby accidentally, I didn’t really co-sleep with her. For the first 2 weeks, I placed her in the mosses basket and put it on the bed next to where I sleep. Every so often I would roused to check on her to make sure she’s still there lying beside me. I couldn’t sleep in peace without sensing her presence beside me.

From mosses basket, we transferred her to a cot when she was about 2 months old, and the cot is next to our bed. As a smart girl who knows what’s best for her, she has abandoned her cot by 7 months old and kicked dear hubby out of his bed. From then on, we sleep in peace feeling each other warmth against each other, to feel the softness of the baby’s skin, and to smell the sweetness of the baby’s smell. And for 1 year, JS was keeping me good company at all the lonely nights when we were both alone and me pregnant (Dear hubby was then working in Seremban, we were in PJ and he only comes back twice a week)

I realized no matter how soundly you would sleep before, even like a dead-fish, once you are a mother, things will change. I guess it’s the maternal instint. You will become more alert to your baby’s movement, eventhough you are so tired and exhausted, even if you now you could sleep through due to tireness even the roof is going to fall down on you. But that’s just not the case for any mummies. Every single movements, every tiny whimpers, you will be able to sense it or hear it, you are so alert even in your sleep, so there is no way you would smother your baby to death if you co-sleep. So, forget about what the baby book use to say and stop worrying!

I’ve learned from my experience. When WH was born, I started co-sleep with him from day 1. Even in the hospital, I put him next to me on the single bed. Who wants to put the baby in the “plastic box” ( what do you call those thing in the hospital where your baby sleeps in the nursery and attached to the trolley where it can be pushed to you by the nurse). It just so inconvinient. You are having pain down there, even moving up and down from the bed is a trouble, what more lift a baby up from the “plastic box” and carrying the baby up the bed each time you wanted to breastfeed. Moreover you won’t want to ring the bell and wait a full minute before the nurse turns up and ask you what you want and the baby already crying in the box. I just won’t do it, so the best way is to have the baby next to me all the time. That’s just what I did.

We have not even assemble the baby cot, it’s now stored in the store. I wonder if we would use it for the next baby. I doubt so. Lucky we have not bought an expensive branded cot. The cot we currently have is from giant, cost about RM300.

WH is 17 months now, and still sandwished between dear hubby and me every night. The bed is getting a little cramp now, but we are kind of used to it, to be near to each other. We have another single bed place right next to our bed for JS. Every night, when I’m nursing WH to sleep, JS would say to me, “Mummy, later you come and sleep with me huh”. She will then lie on her bed and wait for me (eventhough her bed is just next to where I’m lying down to nurse baby, to her is still not good enough). She won’t fall asleep until I roll over to her bed and sleep with her. I’m enjoying the moment of closeness with my kids, to know they need me and want to be closed with me, it gives me a sense of being needed and it really feels good. I know these will not last forever. I’m sure one day my kids will come tell me “Mummy, I want my own room. I want my space, I want my privacy”. So why push your child away when they still need and long for you now. When they are ready, they will move on and we will have no regrets when we look back to this special moment later, at least we had experienced it. We won’t lament later, how it feel to be sleeping close to your kids and it’s too late to try.

Even dear hubby, who at many times doesn’t see eye to eye with my parenting style, do not object to co-sleep. He has never complaint or at any time suggest or try to move the kids away. It has never occur to him that co-sleeping is not a norm.