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Lullabies

I too fell into co-sleeping by default..for us it was just easier, and we all got more sleep that way.

My family stopped criticizing my decision since, as you say on the website, it is the norm in Japan and most Japanese kids turn out just fine.

On the other hand, I apparently was left to scream at night for six or seven weeks before I finally gave up (my family lived in an old apartment building at the time...bet the neighbors LOVED it) and I didn't turn into an axe murderer, so again, Mothers do as you will.

By Q. (mother of 2 in Tokyo, Japan)

Our DS is 2 and we have been co-sleeping on a bed since about 7 months. It started on a camping trip with my parents. It was too hard on my back to always take him out of the port a crib at night when he wanted to drink some milk so I let him sleep with me. He loved it and slept better too.

I thought because of all the SIDS stuff he should sleep in his own bed and we tried but he would scream and scream. He just didnt want to be alone. I tried the go and check every 5 minutes, but either I wasnt strong enough or DS just didnt fit in this paradigm.

I had never planned on co-sleeping and in fact I had never really heard of it until we started doing it. DH didnt have any problem with it at all and DS is a snuggle puff all the way so he likes it alot. And I liked it because I could get some sleep.

Pluses are in my opinion
You can snuggle more
DS slept throught the night pretty well 6-8 hours at 7 months which I think is pretty darn good
If you are breast feeding then you dont have to get up
If you are bottle feeding then you just go get the bottle and go back to bed
You can all cuddle together, which is good for papa too.

Negatives
Diapers do leak. You can minimize the problem by putting a liner under your sheet and over the sheet. I use a rubber type liner on top of the sheet. It also is a little warmer for the baby. At first you dont really get a deep sleep because you are worried about rolling onto the baby, but some people put their babies in a basket in the bed, so that might be an option.

The BIG Question...
We just go to another room once DS has fallen asleep. But we dont go throught tons of condoms either just because we were tired at the beginning, but things are starting to pick up. I am always amazed at families that have kids that are 1 year apart. I am always wondering, where do they get the energy??? Maybe their baby was low maintenance. Ours is and was very demanding. But he is getting more independent slowly.

By R. (mother of 1 in Nikko, Japan)