[echaos]

My partner and I will bring our 8 month old in to bed with us whenever he wakes up during the night. He's a fabulous sleeper (he's been sleeping through the night since he was 2 months old) so this only happens once every couple of weeks. We all sleep well when he is there and we love the "extra" cuddle time!

My concern is that I cannot sleep with clothes on!!

All of the books and articles on co-sleeping talk about it being okay to have sex with a small baby in bed.... ( I don't think I could do this....the cats are even asked to leave the room!) and I'm assuming that this is mostly done naked...... but you never see anything written about nudity in general.

How do other families deal with this? Is there a cut off age that you have for "public" displays of nudity in front of the kids? If you sleep au naturel how do you deal with kids climbing into bed with you?

Thanks for the input!!!

[Karebear]

I would say that as long as the child is comfortable and you are comfortable then it shouldn't be an issue. At 8 months old i don't think he understands the whole clothes vs no clothes thing but as he gets older it might get uncomfortable. Thats just my opinion and i'm certainly no professional.
~Karebear~

[Wingless]

I remember the shock when I was in Junior High and asked to change in a locker room. Even a room full of other girls was WAY more embarrassing then I could handle.

Motherhood sure changes that thought process! But I have four children that have all at one time, and still today, join us in bed. My two youngest - quickly approaching 4 and 3 yrs old, are still wandering into our bed in the middle of the night.

I believe if you teach comfort of their bodies, the right amount of what privacy is, that they understand as well as possible that their bodies are theirs only... then the balance for them to be comfortable with your Au Naturel will be normal.

My two oldest are quite aware that we sleep often with little to nothing. Mornings when they want to join in with their younger sisters for cartoons, they prefer to stage themselves to the end of the bed. I am sensitive to their needs, and will cover before leaving the room, but I most certainly do not show embarrassment or disapproval to their joining us.

Kids often will signal when it is time to down the robe. Nudity is not something they will not have to deal with again, so the more they realize you can be comfortable in your own skin, the less of a shock it will be later. A "healthy" dose is what you will define for your family.

[NDN]

The cut-off is set in our house according to the child. We decided that our boys should stop seeing me without clothes when they learn that boys and girls are different. This happened early with my 4 year old. I can't remeber when he started to notice, but I do know that having hi at the birth of his brother when he was not quite 2 was making an exception. He notice early on that we were different. We simply explained to him that we have different bodies and that, since he no longer nursed, he had no need to see me disrobed. He weaned at 13 months and prior to that, I had no problem taking baths with him or nursing.

So by the time your son is old enough to realize the difference between boys and girls and dressed and undressed, he won't be in your bed. If he only comes to the bed every couple of weeks, he will probably be out of there before it is an issue.