This s Things I love About post is from Chelle, mum of two (soon to be three) and blogger at the Mumington Post. As Chelle gets ready for the imminent arrival of her baby she shares her thoughts on co-sleeping, with some tips on doing it safely.

When we had our daughter we didn’t realise that we were co-sleeping. Co-sleeping is where your baby shares a room with you, and this is advised until the age of six months. It was purely accidental that we fell into what people often consider to be co-sleeping but is in fact bed sharing. I breastfed my daughter and we often had an afternoon nap post breastfeed. I found this to be the one time in each day that I was able to be so relaxed. We would lay down on the bed, feed and then snooze until daddy arrived home from work. Bliss!

When number two came along we didn’t intend to do this again, but once more we found that breastfeeding settled baby boy- and it just felt right. We caught up on any new bed-sharing guidelines to ensure that everything was safe and had a co-sleeping cot that allowed us to have our own bed space without actually sharing. It worked for us, and as he is now a year old we have a similar set up in the nursery with his cot and a single bed. Plus with a new baby coming along he’ll soon be evicted for another little one who needs that early days closeness too!

There are a few things I would suggest to anyone thinking about co-sleeping or bedsharing….

• Invest in a co-sleeping cot - this creates a safe space without compromising on bed space. It helps with night time feeds; you can put the side down so that you can easily see baby or lay next to each other for a feed.
• Make sure you check safe sleep guidelines. There are a lot of things you need to know that can affect your ability to safely co-sleep/bedshare.
• Make sure that you discuss this throughly with your partner. You both have to agree on how to do this together. In my experience it has meant daddy has slept in the spare room so that there is plenty of safe space rather than feeling like sardines in the bed.

At the end of the day it isn’t for everyone and we understand that some people find our sleeping arrangements unusual- but it works for us.

Have you co-slept or bed shared? What tips do you have?