We have accidentally become co-sleepers.

It seems like it started off innocently enough – Abigail was born with low blood sugar, and the hospital recommended some skin-to-skin time to help keep it up. So the first night we took turns laying with her on our chests (you don’t really sleep in a hospital anyway, right?). And the next day, between each blood test as we waited for her blood sugar results to come back, she continued to sleep on our chests. But we had discussed this idea of co-sleeping and decided it wasn’t for us, so when we got home, we set up her bassinet in our room and put her in it, and she had a nice long nap in her bassinet. And all was good.

Except, and I’m not really sure what or how it happened, but somehow she now spends most of the night sleeping with us instead of sleeping in her bassinet.* Granted, a good portion of the night is also spent feeding her, so it’s not like she is in our bed for hours on end. But when she is not being fed, she is often sleeping away on Charles’ chest as he reclines in our bed.

During the day she sleeps in her bassinet, so clearly she is able to sleep in her bassinet. Clearly we are comfortable having her sleep in the bassinet. But in the wee hours of the morning, we seem to cave in and she ends up anywhere but in her bassinet. Last night I slept on the spare bed with her beside me (mostly so that we could actually sleep – last night was a fussy night and she is most sleepy right after being fed. Moving her even from the spare room, where I feed her at night, to our room is too far a distance for her liking).

And sadly, when I take a step back, it seems to be a symptom of a larger “bed-sharing” weakness.

When we got Paco, we were determined that he would sleep in his crate at night. And he did. For about four months. Then one night I went to bed early and Paco came upstairs with me and settled in, and when Charles came to bed, he didn’t put Paco in his crate (yes, I put the blame on Charles – I was asleep :)) The next night when we turned off the TV to go to bed, Paco quickly ran up the stairs and settled into bed. And we promptly put him in his crate. But sleeping in our bed became a once a week “special” thing for him. And then twice a week, and then soon he was sleeping in our bed every night and we didn’t even pretend that we were going to put him in his crate.

The first night that Honey was here, she went straight upstairs at the end of the night, jumped into bed and settled down. She didn’t even pretend that she was going to sleep elsewhere.

So, yeah. We were pretty much doomed from the start with Abigail.

* We always make sure there is no chance of her being smothered by a pillow (or a pug).

Well, I didn’t get the home birth that I planned. But, it’s hard to get too hung up on the little things when there are bigger things to think about 😉