In The Darkness of the Living Room

In two days Bea will be 20 months old

bea star

She has slept every single night of her life with me

I cannot imagine things having been any other way

But we need to find a way to stop

The darkest part of my days

Is the hour I sit in a pitch black room

Willing a giant baby Bea to fall asleep

In my arms

On my lap

I am still feeding her to sleep

Because physically and emotionally I don’t know how to stop

Yet physically and emotionally this is what I need the most

Feeding Bea to sleep

Sitting motionless on the sofa with her

From 6pm everyday

Is crippling me

Literally crippling me

For the past three days I have been in excruciating pain

In my lower back

All round my hips

Down my thighs and in the back of my knees

I can tell from where it hurts most

That is linked to how I sit while feeding Bea

It is not good for my mental wellbeing either

The darkness of the living room

I get sad and cross and frustrated

The longer it takes Bea to fall asleep

The worse I feel

We do not end our days together well

I want my evenings back

I want my body back

I just wish I knew how

She has never slept in a cot

I do not really mind her being in bed with me

It is the sofa in the evening that is hard

It feels like a huge roadblock

Stopping me

Us

From moving forward

I could spend my evenings doing jobs around the house

Setting up learning and play for the next day

Anything other than feeling totally trapped

Under Bea

I am beginning to really resent the time

Dread the time

It is not good for our relationship

It is not the bonding experience it once was when she was new born

I want us to move to the next stage together

I want to straighten out the kinks

Most notably in my spine!

I dread the darkness falling

I hate our living room

Can anyone please tell me what I should do?