Our Family Bedroom
Someone asked me the other day what our bedroom setup looks like so I thought I would share a picture.
This is our “family room”- yep, we’re all in together: husband, 3 year old, baby, dog and me.
Most people are fairly forgiving of the baby in our room - apparently that’s not completely unacceptable in Western culture. But we definitely get a lot of raised eye-brows when we admit (frankly and unapologetically) that our 3 year old still sleeps in our room too.
But we love it. Yes, even my husband loves it. It just feels natural for us to all sleep close together. We are a family after all.
Most nights our daughter falls asleep in her own little bed in the corner and stays there till morning (no, the baby doesn't wake her!)
But some nights she asks to sleep in the “big bed”, and other nights she climbs in during the night (and cuddles her daddy). Bedtime is never a battle and at an age when nightmares and fears can be rife at night, we both feel better knowing she is close and feels safe at night when it’s dark and scary.
The baby sleeps in the cot, but rolls over to find me in the night when he needs a feed. Then, when he’s finished he rolls back again. Or, he stays there cuddled against me. How many times a night does he do this? I’m not sure. Sometimes maybe only twice. Sometimes hourly. I don’t know, I don’t open my eyes and I certainly don’t look at the clock.
Finally, and most importantly… our bed is on the floor. Until last week we had a huge, fancy bed-frame, but baby’s mad new skills in crawling put a fast end to that. Womp womp.
No, it’s not a bedroom out of House & Garden magazine, but we’re all comfortable and getting as much sleep as possible…so I’d say that’s far more important!
(Oh yeah, and how could I forget? The dog sleeps on the floor... or occasionally sneaks up with our daughter!)
Georgina Dowden is a mother, midwife and lactation consultant (IBCLC).
In her day to day life, she looks after her two beautiful children and also supports other families on their parenting journey.
If you would like to get in touch for breastfeeding or sleep/settling support, please email:
Skype/FaceTime consultations available OR home visits if you live in the Northern Rivers of NSW.
