JFF-- My Parenting Mistake--co Sleeping

OUCH, only co-slept (somewhat) for about the first year or so with mine, for breastfeeding and much needed SLEEP :)
Worst parenting mistake?
Signing my kids up for organized sports/activities too early. Wait until they are 7 or 8 at least!!!
(mine are now 18, 15 and 12)

I have to say giving my child the taste of chocolate milk. Now, I can't seem to get her to drink regular milk unless she's in dire straights. Shouldn't have even started it. Oh well.

I would say letting my kids have sugar...ever.

I kick myself now...cause it seems like now that is all they ever want.

Tv is the other one...I would have cut tub time out almost altogether!

I love the co-sleeping thing...There is nothing better then waking up with my brute if boys...thrown in various directions on our king size bed! I will say at three in the morning when I have a foot in my hair...I am cursing the day I took them outta their crib:)

Hahaha, I can't help but laugh to myself.

Mine is also co-sleeping. My son is almost 4, we are making his bedroom a "big boy" room for him and kicking him out in a few weeks.

I might get a few hours to myself tonight, he fell asleep on the couch. But soon enough he will sneak into bed with me!

If I had it to do over knowing what I know now I don't think I would have taken them to taco bell or mcdonalds or any of those places. Maybe pizza now and then, but that would be it.

I also had the summer mistake of allowing my daughter into my bed every night!! Anyway my daughter has been wanting her bedroom redecorated for a while (pink is for babies mom!!!) so I told her that would be our project but only if she slept in her own bed and wasn't getting up. So far she has been really good, only coming through once after a scary dream. Bribery is sometimes the way to go. lol

Oh man, everything. Sugar, French fries, tv, short order cooking, the list goes on... I'm a terrible mother. Although, I hardly ever give my children juice, never soda, and they always say 'you're welcome'. So I may be doing some things right.

I love co-sleeping, when I can convince one of my sons to sleep with me!

omg, i love co sleeping!, but it certainly isnt for everyone.

Mine would have to be homeschooling. LOL! What a joke that was it was just Kinder, but i had a new baby at the time and my daughters tendency to read backwards was far too much for me. i thought that just because i used to teach preschool that i could do it. I bought books and downloaded software but by 1st grade my daughter was barely reading 20 sight words and spelling things in all caps.....it was a hard year ahead of double time homework, and a tutor at school to get her where i wanted her to be. but now shes reading and writing ahead of her peers so our efforts paid off in the end. I wont be trying this with my other 2, in fact i might start pre K at 3.

Co-sleeping with babies, the practice of having babies share a bed with their parents, is controversial. What are the pros and cons of co-sleeping with your baby?

Pros

Co-sleeping helps parents and babies get more and better sleep than non-co-sleeping parents and babies. Babies rouse often in the night. Parents who have to get out of bed and walk to the baby’s crib in another room will have their sleep more interrupted than parents who can merely roll over and comfort baby. Because of the shorter commute of the parents who are responding to their babies’ cries (i.e., rolling over versus walking to another room), parents who are not responsible for responding to their crying babies will have less interrupted sleep because their babies’ cries are more quickly addressed. Co-sleeping babies cry for shorter periods of time (due to quicker parental response times) and fall asleep faster. Finally, in co-sleeping, it is easier for nursing mothers to sync their sleep cycles with their babies’ sleep cycle.

Co-sleeping promotes parent-child bonding, nurtures both parents and children, and can comfort ill or frightened children.

Co-sleeping encourages breastfeeding by making breastfeeding more convenient. Breastfeeding has immunological benefits, so co-sleeping can indirectly increase the immune systems in babies.

Co-sleeping reduces infant stress. When babies stop crying in their cribs, they have not changed their minds about being alone in their cribs: instead, they stop crying because they perceive that crying is futile, that their needs will not be met. The American Association for the Advancement of Science has issued the opinion that babies who sleep alone may be more prone to stress disorders as a result.

Some studies suggest that co-sleeping babies spend less time in Level III sleep (deep sleep where there is a greater risk of apnea) and mimic the health breathing of the people with whom they share a bed. Further, some studies indicate that children (who experienced co-sleeping as babies) are more likely than children who did not co-sleep to perform well in school and have higher self-esteem.

Cons

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Centers for Disease Control have determined that co-sleeping with babies increases the likelihood of infant suffocation and strangulation caused by babies being rolled over on by a bedmate, being suffocated in adult bedding, being trapped between the mattress and the wall or headboard, etc. The CPSC cites the following statistics: between January, 1990 and December, 1997, at least 515 deaths resulting from co-sleeping. Of those deaths, 121 were caused by a parent, caregiver, or sibling rolling over onto the baby. The CPSC further states that 75% of these deaths involve babies who are less than three months old.

Co-sleeping babies can become dependent on their parents for falling asleep.

It can be more difficult to transition older children to their own beds than to transition infants to their own cribs. Ultimately, transition does have to occur . . . co-sleeping with teenaged children is a recipe for disaster.

Parents who co-sleep with babies may have more diminished sex lives than non-co-sleeping parents. These parents must have sexual relations outside of their bedrooms or temporarily relocate their babies if they wish to have sexual relations in their own beds. For many parents, diminished sexual activity can ultimately harm the way the parents related to each other.

Summary

There are strong arguments to be made on both sides of this hotly debated issue. Many parents seek compromise positions, such as placing their babies’ cribs in the parents’ bedrooms or attached baby “sidecars” to the parents’ beds. That way, babies and parents have their own spaces while the quicker response times and resulting benefits are achieved. However, these compromise positions do not address all co-sleeping cons. There is no one-size-fits-all perfect solution. Parents are advised to weigh their alternatives and make the decisions that they believe to be best in their families.

I don't mind the kids coming and crawling in bed with us. I often miss having them cuddle with one of us during the night. It won't be long before they are moving on with their lives and won't want to even give hugs anymore...

I don't know. I make so many mistakes it's hard to say one is worse than any others. With my daughter I guess it would be that I just didn't have a clue about parenting. I have learned so much about it now that I am raising some of my grandchildren but I look back and wonder how she survived her childhood.

Well, sleep is the big issue....as in, sleeping without nourishment during the night. I still nurse my 16 month old twice during the night. I let her "cry it out" at about 9 months and had a great time for a short while...until, at 11 months, she learned how to climb out of her crib (very dangerously) and we put her in a toddler bed. Now I'm out of options!!!

letting my dad introduce my kids to sugared cereals--they used to be able to completely ignore the cereal aisle at the grocery store, but now it's a tantrum fest if they accidentally catch a peak at it! The worst part about it is I don't buy Fruit Loops and Lucky Charms because I end up eating most of it!! haha

Not teaching better money smarts and making them earn what they want and save for it. It certainly would have helped them more in their adult years.

I also regret not checking out their friends parents more when they were teens. I knew their friends parents for years and they all knew my thoughts on underage drinking. I found out after they gotten older that they would go spend the night with these friends and the parents would give them alcohol and even party with them. It really angered me because they knew how much I was against it and yet they took it on themselves to go against me. To do it over my kids wouldn't have slept over at other's houses for that reason.

There's nothing I can think of, I'm the perfect parent...LOL, joking!
We're guilty of co-sleeping too, but I love it and like the extra cuddle time...Super Nanny would not approve! I wish I would have done things differently with their diet/nutrition...I gave in too easily to what they didn't like and gave them more of what they wanted, which sadly does not include ALOT of veggies! I know, I suck!

Laughing at him... especially when he's being rude or disrepectful. Sometimes it is just so damn funny. I know that I'm reinforcing the behavior and sending a mixed message when I laugh and then discipline him.

But honestly... a little angel-faced 3 yr old looking at me and saying "OK- I heard you the first time!"... and I'm not going to laugh!