Late night sleepy time thoughts

Yes it is true, we do not have a crib. In fact, we do not have a "nursery" or whatever people call it. That simply is what works for how we roll. As far as baby furniture goes, Kaia has a dresser (the same one that was mine, then my mom's fabric storage, then Akilah's when she was little) in the corner of Akilah's room and that's about it. (I suppose at some point we will need to start calling it Akilah AND Kaia's room, but no point in doing so yet!)

I love the following quote - From Top Cosleeping Myths, Busted. by The Other Baby Book:

Sleepless nights not only make us crazy, they also can make us resent our little ones. Why can’t they sleep like a “normal baby,” we wonder. It rarely occurs to us that normal babies don’t sleep in cribs.

Cribs were invented by entrepreneurs, not delivered by the stork. They are not the natural state of affairs for babies. Cribs don’t meet babies’ need for closeness to their caregivers, nor access to food sources. In fact, cribs block those two essential needs. 

Leading sleep researcher Dr. James McKenna comments in The Other Baby Book, 'Human infants are not designed to sleep alone, as they are born exceedingly neurologically immature. The best protection you can give your baby is to never let your baby sleep alone.'

Practicing safe bed-sharing was my “Aha” moment. My baby slept contentedly by my side, waking briefly to nurse throughout the night. The act of nursing released the blissful mothering hormones oxytocin and prolactin, which easily lulled me back to sleep. No more hauling my butt out of bed in the middle of the night for feedings; no more miserable hours wasted trying to keep us both awake to finish a feeding.

It’s no wonder so many moms do what comes naturally to bring peace to their babies. Bed-sharing is a miracle-drug for new mom and baby sleep.

So yes indeed that is just a very small snapshot of what makes sense for us now (and also how we slept with Akilah). There is just so much more sleeping going on around here, especially compared to when I was pregnant. Yay!

I also really adore this post written by our dear friend Rachel:
http://lusaorganics.typepad.com/clean/2011/11/safe-co-sleeping-is-good-for-you-and-your-baby-.html