Bedsharing with a toddler

From very early on, Hubs and I knew that we just weren't "family bed" kind of parents. We sleep in our space, kids sleep in their space, everybody is happy. This is, of course, based on the fact that our kid sleeps at all, which he often sometimes does not. When he was a wee thing, Sweets ended up sleeping in our bed quite a lot. This was born of pure neccessity; he was up nursing half the night and I was so exhausted that the easiest solution seemed to just have him right there next to me. It worked ok, and by that, I mean that Hubs slept, teeny tiny Sweets slept, and Mama laid awake worrying about smushing him. As he grew and moved into his own room and his crib, it confirmed for us that separate sleeping spaces was what worked best for our family. We had gotten into a nice routine where Sweets goes to sleep easily in his bed, and the only time he was coming into ours was on weekend mornings for some snuggles before getting up for the day. And let me be clear: we love and cherish those weekend mornings and look forward to them all week long.

Then cold and flu season hit and Sweets is often feeling under the weather, can't sleep comfortably and is wanting some extra snuggle time. I get it. I respect it. I'm more than happy to do it. But these last few weeks have re-affirmed why we don't cosleep on a regular basis.

An Analysis of Toddler Bedsharing, in Pictures

I am by no means an artist. But you get the picture.

Exhibit A: Daddy gets a pillow. Sweets gets Mommy's pillow.

Mommy is clutching the side of the bed for dear life.

Exhibit B: Both Daddy and Mommy are teetering on their respective edges of the bed

while Sweets occupies prime real estate in the middle.

Exhibit C: Daddy opts to move to the couch in an effort to reduce crowding.

Sweets wants to snuggle as close as is humanly possible to Mommy.

Mommy is a cliffhanger. 90% of bedspace goes unused.

Parenthood. You have to laugh :)