Nightcrawler!!!

[Pumplicious]

So recently DD has been working hard on perfecting her crawling technique and on pushing up to a stand (I've tried showing her it's easier to pull up to a stand, but no, she wants to push up off the floor and she's all like, "What do you know, Mommy?")

We have one period at night when we co-sleep, and that's after/during the middle-of-the-night feeding we do. The last couple of nights, I've woken up because she's been crawling around on our bed, apparently in her sleep! I pull her to me, to my boob, and she latches on, but she's still moving her feet and trying to stand with her face against my boob. I feel like she crawls fast enough that she could easily crawl off the bed before I get a chance to wake up and grab her. This is making me very nervous, and sleeping with one eye open is not a restful situation. I've thought about a guard rail, but with her learning how to stand now, it just seems like she could pull herself up and climb over it, and then it's just a farther distance to fall!

Has this happened to anyone else before? Is it just a phase that she's going through? Will she be able to co-sleep with us safely, or am I going to have to put her to sleep in her crib all the time now?

[ima062002]

Hmmm, that is an interesting one. I guess I would just make sure to have plenty of soft blankets, pillows etc. on the floor for added protection. Or if you can, ditch the bed and just use the mattress for a while.

[RedheadbyChoice]

I'm sorry, sugar, I don't have any suggestions (aside from echoing Patricia's with pillows on the floor or putting the mattress on the floor) but I can't help but giggle. It just sounds so incredibly cute, she's nursing and still wanting to perfect this skill of hers!

Once she gets it, though, I'm betting that it would bother her so much at night.

[Pumplicious]

I'm sorry, sugar, I don't have any suggestions (aside from echoing Patricia's with pillows on the floor or putting the mattress on the floor) but I can't help but giggle. It just sounds so incredibly cute, she's nursing and still wanting to perfect this skill of hers!

Once she gets it, though, I'm betting that it would bother her so much at night.


It is very cute! This morning DH and I woke up to her crawling in circles/rotating in between us. And she's still trying to stand up while nursing. Cute, yes, but getting kind of uncomfortable! :)

I am also hoping that once she learns to crawl/stand, she will be able to settle down and sleep for the night. I hate to cut out that period in the night when we co-sleep, because I feel like she gets a lot of good nursing done during that time, as she is much too distractable during the day.

But just for reference, in case it gets to the point where she is still practicing her gross motor skills three months down the road and I start suffering from sleep deprivation or she somehow successfully launches herself off the edge of the bed and puts an end to co-sleeping that way, at what age is it appropriate to even consider night-weaning? She's 8 1/2 months right now, and I feel like she doesn't nurse well in the daytime because she's always wanting to rush off and explore, play or practice her new moves.

[RedheadbyChoice]

I personally wouldn't night wean before at least a year, depending on how she's nursing during the day.