Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Cuddles

One of the things that we have gone back and forth on is the topic of co-sleeping, or, in other words, letting Matty sleep in the bed with Mike and I.
Some of my friends who are parents are big on it. Their kids sleep in the bed every night. Other friends are adamently opposed, and never let their kids sleep in the bed. Ever.
Our feelings on this are kind of mixed. Matt slept with us for ages, but the day we quit breastfeeding we put him in his own crib and that was the end of him being in our bed. He was 19 months, and in our eyes it was time. He never complained. He seemed to like his own space and actually slept through the night and we were happy. And so we went from Sears to Ferber overnight. Or so it seemed.
But lately Matt has been crawling in bed with us.
It started pretty innocently. While on vacation he had his own bed, but he was scared and would climb into our nice big bed. Then when we got back he was out of routine and wanted us to climb into his bed to help him fall asleep. We pushed back because we didn't really want to have to sleep in his bed every night. And after a couple weeks he was over that.
But lately he's been coming into our bed. Like on the weekend at about 4 am he'll hop in and sleep for a couple hours. My thoughts on this - it's okay because otherwise we'd be up at 4am, so if it means more sleep that's fine.
Besides, I kind of like it. I love that he snuggles up with me and I get the hugs that are so lacking when he is running around being a typical 2 year old.
And then last night, it happened.
We had a late night. Mike and I were shooting our last challenge for the show and Eric (Matty's godfather) was babysitting. We got home around 9:30 and then had some birthday cake for Eric. And, then it was 10pm. And, Matty was wired. Mike was driving Eric home and I was exhausted. So, I told Matty he could cuddle with Mommy.
I know it's a slippery slope. But, I was tired, he was tired, and I didn't feel like getting up with him 15 times. In about 10 minutes we were both sound asleep. Mike got home and neither of us woke up. He dutifully picked Matthew up and brought him to bed, and he slept all night.
So will he be sleeping in our bed? I don't think so.
I like him being in his own bed. But, sometimes, just sometimes, I think I will let him in. Because last night's sleep was so great!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's something we totally agree on!! My son sleeps much better in his own bed, but there are those nights when he wants to be in "mummy bed"...(weird that it isn't daddy bed!!)

...I secretly hope he'll wake up and want to sleep with us sometimes. He's just so cuddly when he's sleeping, and not running around like a crazy boy!

Mayberry said...

I totally agree--a once-in-awhile visit is a nice snuggly treat!