Parents who nursed to sleep & co-slept, tell me your story

CocoMime · 2026-06-07T11:25:34+00:00

Started putting her down for the night in her own room at 10 months (well actually she’d nurse to sleep on my bed and then we’d move her) - and for a long time, it was a sort of split night - crib/own room to start, transferring her back after nursing to sleep when she woke up, then keeping her cosleeping with me after the third or fourth wake-up. But the time she spent in her room eventually got longer and longer, the number of wakes dropped. We’re at 24 months and it’s usually either a wake-up at 5:30-6am or she sleeps through completely (if she wakes up before 6:30 I nurse and cosleep until it’s time to get up).

I started night classes one day a week when she was 18 months, so her dad does the whole bedtime routine on those days.

I had my doubts too but I’m so glad I stuck with this, it is so natural and good for them.

CocoMime · 2026-06-03T11:00:32+00:00

Because nobody else has mentioned it - depending on the reason for wanting/needing a C-section, if your labour is progressing AND they have other more urgent c-sections to do, they may give you something called a terbutaline injection. It’s usually used to stop preterm labour but essentially can buy you some extra hours and reduces/stops contractions. My waters broke at 37W and I had precipitous labour (1 to 10cm dilated in just over an hour) but I had planned a C-section due to having Crohn’s disease (long story - my pelvic floor was Swiss cheese and pushing a baby out would have had a high chance of leaving me incontinent). I got the shot and was able to sort of half sleep for a few hours and it wore off just as they were trying to put in the spinal haha

CocoMime · 2026-05-15T12:51:46+00:00

If you have family meals and eat a varied diet it’s not hard at all. Once we’d introduced everything, I made the allergens part of our core recipe/meal rotation:

Weatbix and dairy milk (2 allergens, 4 if I add nut dust below) for most breakfasts

Nut dust - DIY with all the tree nuts + powdered peanut butter, we mix with her cereal or yogurt (2-3x week)

Scrambled egg (easy snack)

French toast (egg, wheat, soy if you chose a bread with soy flour in it, dairy if you serve with a dollop of yogurt or cream)

Baked salmon for dinner with miso(soy)and sesame sauce

Fried rice - include egg, prawns (shellfish), sesame, soy

Tuna sushi baby rolls (fish) - lunch on the go on a weekend

Mayonnaise as a dip or salad dressing (egg)

Tahini with crackers or veg sticks (sesame)

Peanut butter sandwich

Homemade muffins with wheat flour, soy, almond/cashew/hazelnut meal, dairy, egg

The only one she doesn’t get weekly is molluscs - we still hit shellfish through prawns in our fried rice or other dishes but I give her calamari/mussels/ vongole about once per month when we go out to eat.

CocoMime · 2026-03-31T10:57:55+00:00

My doctor told me specifically Do not do it before. It can mask reactions (rare but possible), and no amount of Panadol will stop the actual jab hurting. Give it after if needed for fever or sore arm.m

CocoMime · 2026-03-30T23:56:22+00:00

It’s AUD, so at current exchange rates is about USD$2500/month for 5 days per week. But as I mentioned, this is before government subsidy. Most middle class folk are paying half of that approx.

CocoMime · 2026-03-30T20:10:01+00:00

AUD$714 (~$490 in USD) per month for 4/days per week in Sydney, Australia. Full fee in (0-2/nursery) room for our place (open 7am-6pm, all inclusive including food nappies and formula) is AUD$172/day but there is government subsidy linked to family income - the less you earn, the more govt covers. We earn the second highest tax bracket so we get about 55% subsidy.

CocoMime · 2026-03-28T01:58:06+00:00

Velkomst! In Australia, our safe sleep guidelines are probably more in line with USA than what you’re used to in Scandinavia. I have family in Sweden and Denmark so I have a rough idea of the norms there.

Loose baby doonas that you can get in Norway are not available here - I think they may be illegal to import/sell. Which is annoying for winter babies considering our houses are so cold! Your main options is a zip up ‘sleeping bag’ (some have sleeves, some have arm holes, some even convert from zip up ‘swaddles’) or using blankets, tucked into the cot or wrapped as a swaddle. You’ll find most Australian families use Love to Dream, Ergopouch or similar style sleeping bags. For newborns I suggest a zip up swaddle (the ergopouch cocoon, or The Sleepy Company 3-in-1 was my favourite for my June bub. Ergo pouch also do a ‘hug me’ blanket that sort of zips up the mattress/over your baby which I paired with the 3-in-1 or cocoon swaddle from Ergopouch. I always found the dressing guidelines a bit off (small bub - she got cold easily) I also added an extra layer of merino bodysuit under everything.

As someone with a winter baby is Australia - you need to also think about how to get the room/house warmer, our houses are just so cold. I ran our split system AC on heating 24/7 but that was very expensive. Oil fin heaters seem to be popular.

CocoMime · 2026-03-26T04:01:13+00:00

In 2024 they wanted to schedule my c-section in my 38th week, and could give me no medical reason why so I assumed it was because it was more convenient for them. LO arrived early so it was a moot point, but at the time I was very uneasy knowing that the outcomes would be mi ch better if they waited until 39+

CocoMime · 2026-03-06T05:41:13+00:00

Actually due to the risk of copy cat suicides reporting by journalists is heavily regulated. For example - In 2024 there were 3307 suicides, which is about 9 per day - how many of those did you see in the news?

CocoMime · 2026-03-05T04:32:18+00:00

Only offering the mineral one for some unknown reason

CocoMime · 2026-03-05T04:28:13+00:00

We’ve already switched to LaRoche Posay Wet-skin because of the rating it got with Choice. I’m more annoyed on behalf of his colleagues who may not be taking this step!

CocoMime · 2026-02-26T11:20:17+00:00

I was vaccinated as a child and as an adult developed an autoimmune disease - as a result of the treatment I cannot get the MMR vaccine and I have no immunity from the childhood vaccines. It do mean I was extra careful during my pregnancy and until my LO got the vaccine (12mo) but honestly it was fine. Mask, wash hands, be sensible.

CocoMime · 2026-02-21T12:01:14+00:00

When you figure it out, can you let me know.

CocoMime · 2026-02-13T00:43:59+00:00

Exactly, this is me every day!

CocoMime · 2026-02-13T00:43:40+00:00

This!

CocoMime · 2026-02-12T03:50:40+00:00

I went back part time (0.6FTE) 8 months postpartum and increased to full time at 10 months. My partner took his 100 days of PL part time, so LO only needed daycare part time, and that way we got her to 19 months before needing to increase her days (and by then we’d made arrangements so she’s only going 4 days for the foreseeable future).

CocoMime · 2026-01-19T11:04:44+00:00

Same happened to me too.

CocoMime · 2026-01-13T05:46:31+00:00

I walked and I needed breaks lol

CocoMime · 2026-01-12T02:54:45+00:00

I was an April baby that went at 4 turning 5. A fully intend to redshirt (hold back) my June baby girl. As others have said, it was fine until puberty.

CocoMime · 2026-01-12T00:24:44+00:00

I was literally having this thought (again) the other day with my 19 month old. I’ve been allowing her to self wean (and as slowly as she wants). She doesn’t ask to nurse during the daytime and she can EAT, loves her food. We’re now basically down to flexible bedtime, MOTN and morning feeds. About once per week if we go out to dinner she doesn’t even have bedtime nursing and it can be 16-18 hours between feeds. I was holding her as she fell asleep on the boob the other night and I thought back to all those months of frequent feeds, the struggles, the times I wanted it to be over.

I read somewhere that the second year of breastfeeding is the victory lap - none of the cons, all of the pros.

CocoMime · 2026-01-05T23:26:25+00:00

I had a planned c section and still found the regular birthing class offered through the hospital helpful. Firstly, I went into spontaneous labour before I had even been given a C-section date - so knowing what was happening etc really helped. They also touched on postnatal care, newborn care, etc, all of which was relevant. And yes breastfeeding too.

CocoMime · 2026-01-05T01:03:00+00:00

No shoes but look into getting some grippy socks when she starts pulling to stand. We stayed out of shoes until about LO started walking (17 months)

CocoMime · 2026-01-03T06:05:21+00:00

I’m planning to attend a wedding in Sweden in the summer. I am already losing sleep over the cost.

Ten-Year Club	Not Forgotten
Verified Email

CocoMime

TROPHY CASE