It's Hard Letting Go..

We have always had a plan when it came to the sleeping arrangements of our babies. Well, I always have had a plan and Dave has always gone along with it. From the time the babies are born they sleep in the bed with me. Even at the hospital. That made for very little sleep for me (read: none) as I held them tight against me in the little, narrow, hospital bed. But, once we get home it is much better and even easier to grab some sleep. When the baby needs to be fed, I just have to sit up and feed her, then go back to sleep. No need to even get up. But, that was never the real reason for it. SIDS was the real reason for it. I have always been terrified of SIDS (what mother isn't?) and I would never, ever, ever, get any sleep if the baby was in a different room from me. As it was, I needed to wake up and put a hand on the baby several times per night to make sure she was still breathing. And, in my mind, if the baby was right there with us - hearing us breathing - that would help her little body and mind remember to breathe, too. No exactly scientific, but just something I believe somewhere inside my bones.

At 4 months the odds of loosing a baby to SIDS goes down. So, at that point, we have always moved the baby to a crib right beside our bed. She is still in the room, right beside me, but she (and we) have a little more room and she can start getting used to being on her own a little bit. Then, at 6 months, the baby makes the big move to her own room. That's how it was for Maddie and that's how it was for Jamie.

Colie is now almost 6 months herself, but she had yet to leave our bed. There are many excuses, I mean reasons, for this: her crib is all set up in her room and won't come through the doors unless we take it apart again, her portable crib is at her Grandma's house and we keep `forgetting' to get it, and she just seems so happy in the bed with us. How can we boot the poor little kiddo out?

Well, this past Saturday - we gave it a shot. The baby fell asleep on our bed. In her spot. All comfy-cozy smack dab in the middle. But, we gently picked her up and brought her to her crib. Shockingly enough - she slept through the whole night! Not a peep from her! In fact, it was Dave who woke her up (bright and early in the morning).

Wow. That was much easier than we thought. She didn't seem to mind sleeping in her crib at all.

The next night, Dave brought her back to our bed. Yep, that's right. Dave.

And she has been there every night since.

Sometimes it's hard letting go...