Life

All The Ways Co-Sleeping Affects Your Sex Life

by Lindsay E. Mack

When it comes to sleep training babies, it's easy to obsess over the way each approach will affect your little one. Of course you want your baby's well-being as the foremost consideration, but this doesn't mean your own adult needs have to fall by the wayside. With this in mind, learning how co-sleeping affects your sex life is a crucial bit of knowledge. Because seriously, when are you supposed to have sex in this set-up?

For starters, it's important to know what is co-sleeping. It refers to the practice of having your baby sleep in the same room with you, but on a separate sleep surface, according to Baby Center. With your baby close at hand in a sidecar crib, for instance, you're able to monitor the little one more easily throughout the night. It may even reduce the risk of SIDS, as further noted by Baby Center. All in all, co-sleeping offers tremendous benefits for your infant.

But how does a baby in the room affect your postpartum sex life? This is one question that may not get addressed that often, although it's probably crossed every new parent's mind. And with good reason. According to the website for Psychology Today, co-sleeping can seriously mess with your sex life. If you don't make other efforts to be intimate with your partner, then it's easy for sex to more or less become forgotten.

That said, co-sleeping with your infant doesn't have to entail the death knell of your sex life. A little creative thinking can help you and your partner maintain that crucial intimacy. For starters, think outside the bed. Making use of a guest room, shower, or other parts of the house for sex is always a possibility, according to the website for Parenting. Maybe all the sneaking around can become part of the fun. Timing is also important. When your kid is down for an afternoon nap, for instance, you and your partner can make use of that time for intimacy, as explained by Attachment Parenting International. And, of course, there's always the time-honored tradition of sending the little one away for a stay with the grandparents overnight. As long as you keep an open mind, it's entirely possible to enjoy a fulfilling sex life while your baby is still in the co-sleeping stage.