I've been co-sleeping for 13 years. I want to share, knowing how good it is not to feel alone, to come together around what we love. It was the female doctors at the hospital where I gave birth who suggested I sleep like this from the very first night with my baby Louis. With Charles and Jonathan too, by the way. That's why we call it a "baby-friendly hospital." We offer arms, touch, comfort. Everything except separation. With my last baby, I was afraid of being too tired. So they provided me with a pillow so that baby would be comfortable and safe on me. Such a memorable night. So for 13 years, I've been sleeping with him. I don't drink, I don't do drugs, and I make sure I'm in good shape to stay up. To sleep well with him. At 40, fatigue takes hold of us differently than at 30, so I left for bed at 7 p.m. to really enjoy the nights with him. Until 7-8 months, he sleeps on me, I don't move and I'm so comfortable. Then it's next to me that he finds his place. And I wouldn't give mine to anyone. My boyfriend understood this when he had the chance to sleep with his hand on his little one. Deeply satisfied to have been able to reassure, he joins me in the morning. And here's a word in passing about the health of our relationship over the last 11 years: growing, overflowing, probably magical. We share the same values, the same priorities. As for the nights, I don't claim not to be tired sometimes, but I am incapable of moving away. I have just started putting him in bed as soon as he's asleep, which is to say that for a year and a half, he's been in my arms for a long time and all the way to bed. I'm enjoying it. I can't enjoy it anymore. I've had to leave for days of filming, you know. Leaving at 4:30 in the morning. Dad then slips into my place, if baby wakes up, he will get angry at once but the splendid one who amazes me and softens me for life, his sulk quickly gives way to a touching hug as he runs and crawls to snuggle in the hollow of my lover, or on him, reminding me of his birth. So our day is made from this tenderness, this comfort that they need so much.
Elsewhere, we sleep together a lot. Here, we propose detachment. If I wrote Breathe Happiness in one breath, it's so that we, the different ones, can come together. I'm not saying that we should sleep together, especially not if we're not in a fit state. But for those who have chosen it, is there nothing as wonderful?
Thank you France Bunton for this beautiful link on the deep meaning of co-sleeping, the possibilities & precautions https://cosleeping.nd.edu/
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