Memories of a co-sleeping child

In light of the last post, I just thought I'd share a little of my experiences with co-sleeping. I realize it doesn't work for everybody, but I do think it's largely misunderstood and undervalued in Western culture, so I thought it might be fun to hear the side of someone who benefited from it as a child.

My co-sleeping experiences started when I myself was a baby. My parents did a lot of attachment parenting-type stuff before it was cool (Mom, you hipster, you!), and that included co-sleeping. My parents' picture albums are filled with lots of cute pictures of baby me cuddling up with my parents or with my brother, who is 22 months younger than me, in their big bed. I don't remember when I moved to my own bedroom, but I do have some funny early memories of going to my parents' bedroom in the middle of the night and standing there, waiting for an invitation to come into bed with them. When my parents, sound asleep, of course, failed to notice my presence, I'd start making little fake crying sounds until one of them said, "Maria, is that you? Come on in..." My mom says one time I just said "Ahem!" loudly until they noticed me! I wasn't trying to be manipulative; little kid me just felt alone sometimes at night and needed the security, but didn't want to be rude and just jump into bed with my folks. I was a strange child. :-D

Now, I don't know if this is related to co-sleeping at all, or if I just have awesome sleep genes, but I'm one of the best sleepers I know-- insomnia is a SUPER rare occurrence with me, and I fall asleep very quickly at night. My friends will attest that I can usually take a nap anywhere at any time I want. All my early memories of sleep are very positive and warm,  and I think that stays with me to this day. 

So here is living proof that no, co-sleeping kids don't sleep with their parents forever; that yes, parents can still, um, have marital relations (I have four younger siblings, for crying out loud); that no, co-sleeping is not setting your kid up for awful sleep habits; and that no, co-sleeping won't make your kid weird for life. Well, the jury is still out on that last one.

Can a family of four sleep in one bedroom?

We made the commitment to stay another year in our current two-bedroom apartment. The idea is to save money this year by living in a smaller space now so that we can think about living in a house next year. Having spent four years crammed in a dorm and then three years after that in a one-bedroom apartment (part of that with a baby!), I'm not intimidated by small living spaces. But we are presented with a unique living challenge this time around...

See, we need the second bedroom for office, crafting, and sewing business. I am all for keeping sleeping spaces for sleeping and business places for business; in our last one-bedroom apartment, everything that didn't belong in the living room area went in the bedroom, and I haaaaaaated it. Imagine trying to relax in a bedroom crammed with an overflowing theology bookshelf, a sewing machine and oodles of craft supplies, boxes of stuff that you have nowhere to store, musical instruments... you get the idea. It was madness, and everything was so mish-moshed together that the entire house felt like one slightly larger dorm room.

Like this, but with fewer pizza boxes.
(source)

So yeah, having a two-bedroom apartment is awesome! I love finally having a sanctuary devoted to peace and rest. It is consistently the cleanest room in the house, and it's usually quiet and cool.

Which is why we are seriously considering leaving our room arrangement the way it is when Baby #2 comes, and sleeping all four of us in the bedroom. Are we nuts for considering this? I just can't see clearing out the entire office to make a bedroom for the kids when A) there's nowhere to put the office, and B) we aren't ready to stop co-sleeping anyways. Right now, Oscar sleeps with us in our bed, and all three of us enjoy the arrangement immensely. So I figure, what's one more baby to the mix. :-P

If hippos can do it, anyone can.

That will be a challenge, since we're currently in a double-size bed that we can't get rid of (it's been in the family for four or five generations and is part of an heirloom bedroom set). Can you imagine, three larger-than-average people in a double bed?? We are living proof that anyone can co-sleep anywhere. Good thing we like to snuggle! So now I'm thinking of getting a twin-sized bed and shoving it up against our double bed to make a nice, big mega-bed, which we can separate if we want to later on down the road.

Luckily, we have a few more months to get all the details worked out! Has anyone ever attempted anything like this? I figure if other cultures can make a family bed work for centuries, then we have a small sliver of hope. :-)