I don’t know if you’re willing, but co-sleeping saved my sanity with my twins. One or both was up every hour to nurse for the first few months and I have insomnia, so I wouldn’t have gotten any sleep if I didn’t take them to bed with us. It was so much easier to rouse just enough to latch them on and then go back to sleep.
I have a friend who was a NICU nurse who never planned on co-sleeping, but found it worked well for them. She worked full-time and found that her son did the reverse cycling thing too, but she was able to sleep while he nursed.
I know not everyone is comfortable with bringing the baby to bed, though. So whatever works for you.

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Oh no, I am not above anything at this point, and I would LOVE to co-sleep if it worked, but unfortunately it totally does not. I don’t know why, but neither of my boys will sleep if they’re in the same bed (or even room) with us. When I’m really, really tired, in my sleepy haze I think “well, let’s just leave him in here with us” and every single time it just means more waking up, and more crying, and less sleep for everyone. That’s why I always say Co-sleeping equals No-sleeping. Plus, when he falls asleep latched on, I wake up with the most horrificly sore back because I have to lay in a certain way to even keep him latched. It’s like this position where I’m sort of halfway on my side, halfway on my back, and my legs have to be perched in a way to keep me propped like that. It’s just awful. I WISH it worked, but I’m not that lucky. *tear*

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I was gonna say what Reiza said – I worked when Helena was three months old, too. She did the same thing with the reverse-cycling (though I’d never heard the term), which is why we co-slept. It was the only way I could get sleep. I didn’t buy anything fancy to make this possible, I just pushed a heavy chair against the side of the bed, padded it with a pillow (so no one would fall out of bed) and let her nurse as she pleased.

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TJ does reverse cycle but on a different scale…on my 2 days off every week all he wants to do is nurse ALL DAY LONG. He’s not happy unless he’s on the boob. Argh. I have zero advice but just wanted to let you know that you definately aren’t alone.

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I never heard of the term before, but it makes perfect sense! I agree with what everyone else is saying, co-sleeping. That’s the only way I got ANY sleep. I know exactly what you mean about laying in one position, but what really helped me was a body pillow ( I got it when pregnant with Mason, it’s called a “snoogle”, I still use it too!). It really gave me the support I needed on my back…I highly recommend it if you don’t have one already.

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I totally have a snoogle already! But I could use it with co-sleeping? Really? I have to try to figure out how that would work. Now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
I don’t know if that will solve HIS sleep issues though. He just can’t seem to get comfortable when he’s in our bed. He dozes for a second, then wakes right back up. The only time he’s ever really slept, like in a deep sleep, is in his own bed.
Holly, can you come over and tell Julesy he needs to get hip to this co-sleeping business? Otherwise, I’m gonna lose it. John and I spent the ENTIRE day today fighting over who gets more sleep and who needs more sleep (I say he’s GETTING more but I NEED more, after all, I’m the one who has to make the milk around these parts.)

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I didn’t know it had a name! That’s what my younger son did, though. What did I do? Not sleep much for the year I breastfed him. Okay, I know that’s not what anybody wants to hear…I did put him in bed with me (if I hadn’t I wouldn’t have gotten ANY sleep that year) and he didn’t have any problem sleeping there on the occasions that he actually felt sleepy, given that he slept the whole day at the sitter’s except when I would run over on my breaks to nurse him. However, sometimes I was so deeply asleep that it took me a few minutes to respond to his attempts to nurse (exhaustion!) so I ended up with a regular collection of hickeys on my breasts–kid had a mouth grip like a barracuda.

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Oh… the part I was reminded of last night is that even if my kid slept, I couldn’t, because I have to be up a few times a night pumping to make sure I have enough for him to eat while I’m at work.
I can’t win.

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Yeah, it’s a whole other issue if the kid won’t sleep well with you. Can you arrange a side-car with some sort of crib next to the bed, so that at least you don’t have to get UP to nurse him – just pull him close to you? It may be that co-sleeping works better if you do it from the beginning.
All I can say is, this too shall pass. Sucks, huh? That’s how I get through the nipple-biting (horrendous!). I just know it won’t last forever. Meanwhile, I swear at my one-year-old like a sailor.

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