Co-sleeping... worked for me!

a touchy topic for some.  a lifestyle for others.

i am probably one of the biggest co-sleeping advocates you will meet.  i live by the motto "what baby needs, baby gets".  and that's not a way of "spoiling" them.  i mean that in a caring, nurturing way.  your baby needs love, warmth, security and comfort, especially in the first year of life.  to take a child and place them in a bed surrounded with bars all alone in a room away from your own seems barbaric to me.  you know, like a prison.  i have studied co-sleeping until i'm blue in the face and have seen the positive effects it can have on children.

at 20 months old, my child is the most independent kid i know.  she marches to the beat of her own drum, does things for herself and plays well with other children.  and it just so happens the research i've done on co-sleeping has shown me that parents who co-sleep tend to produce more secure and independent children.  wonder why?  because those children weren't ripped from their mothers every night at bedtime.  they slept safe and sound and secure snuggled up to the people who made them feel that way.

i was never scared of rolling over on my baby.  i think this is the biggest argument i hear from people, but i always respond with mother's intuition.  we, as mother's, have something inside us that wakes us up to protect our babies.  co-sleeping made it easier to nurse my daughter at night.  it made it easier to bond with my baby in the first month of life and it made sleep more peaceful for me knowing she was right next to me. 

what you choose to do is your call, but i have seen the awesome effects it's had on my child so far and i'm proud to say i'm a co-sleeping mommy!  here's some info on co-sleeping and the positive effects it can have on children.

http://www.breastfeeding.com/reading_room/co_slepping.html