Before Charis was born, I had NO idea that being a parent was hard, and I even had an "easy" baby. Charis cried when she was hungry, needed changed, wanted held, and was tired; she was not colicky. Still, I was not prepared for the sleepless nights, the non stop nursing sessions when she was two weeks old, having mastitis, the piles of dirty laundry, dirty dishes, etc.
I nursed Charis on demand when she was a baby; I never considered putting her on a schedule. I thought, "She's a baby. Her stomach is so small. Of course she's hungry." I started-co-sleeping and babywearing-not because I believed doing these made me a better mum; I did them in order to survive.
I quickly realized in order to get more sleep at night, I could nurse her from a side lying position. Frequently, I fell asleep, and she stayed in bed with us. We didn't plan to co-sleep but we did it because it worked and I was able to feed her when she started stirring, instead of waiting until she was fully crying.
After my in-laws left when Charis was about 3 weeks, the piles of clothes started to increase, the dishes became a mountain, and I needed to get housework done. I also wanted to hold my baby. Enter babywearing. I was given a Moby wrap at a baby shower and started putting Charis in it. The Moby worked really well for us, until Charis hit 14-16 lbs, then we needed another carrier. I bought a Boba 2G carrier on Ebay; it was a life saver. With the Boba, Charis was able to go in front of me and on my back. She would fall asleep while I was wearing her at church.
I did not enter motherhood believing I would co-sleep or babywear, but that's what worked for Drew, Charis, and me. I'm also thankful for my husband because we did not argue over these things; he was open to them, and so was I.
Join me over at Sisters 'N Cloth for the #BFBlogHop.
You have to do what's best for you! That's for sure!
I wish I had worn my little guy a little more.
Sounds like you figured out one of the tricks of parenting pretty easily...do whatever you can to make life less stressful!
At some point I realized it was co-sleep or no sleep.
I never planned to co-sleep with my first either... But then it just happened and we never looked back. My sanity depended on it! Sleep deprivation can really do a person in.