Co-sleepers - What do you do in the morning?

[Ezz]

DS & I co-sleep for the second half of each night & I often wake before him in the morning. The bed has a small children's rail on the side, which stops him rolling out in his sleep - but once he is awake, he could easily crawl off/fall out.

So, what do you do in the mornings? At the moment, I get up, but go back to check on him every 5 mins to make sure he is still asleep - surely there must be a better way!

[Sammiejane]

MJ comes in with us when she wakes in the night, so we do the same as you it sounds.

IF MJ is still asleep and it is gone 7am i wake her and start the morning.
I was always against routine, but i am finding that implementing bed times and day sleeps easier if they are at the same time and she is happier in general is she sticks to these times. So if she slept in t would throw everything out.

She is a bit younger than your DS however

HTH

[Ezz]

Yeah, I can't say that I'm much of a "routine" stickler. I love it when he sleeps in - a chance to use the computer or eat breakfast in peace!

[fionas]

DD always woke up before me so not quite the same problem BUT I generally left her on the bed so I could go get her a bottle and she could have that in bed with me. That was the theory anyway, more and more often she would get off the bed and follow me. So we basically taught her how to get off the bed safely (feet rather than head first). Maybe that would work then you don't need to worry? We're lucky though in that our bed is pretty close to the floor so easy for her to get off.

[Liz]

DD is asleep on the bed right now I develop super hearing.. and hear her when she stirs. It helps that I know she usually sits up and makes noise before she starts to crawl around.

DS was climbing off the bed safely at about 13 months, but I found he never crawled off the edge anyway, it was him sitting himself up too close to the edge that made him fall off.. took him a while to work out where to put his bum when he sat up. hehe.

[Ezz]

DS can pretty much get off the bed safely (backwards) - but I'm not confident that he will do it every time. Maybe we need to practise that. Thanks!

[Liz]

forgot to update. The afternoon I posted here.. she fell off the bed, coz she got up without a sound! LOL. She survived tho

[Melody7]

Have you got a baby monitor? I got one so I could hear DS stirring when I was in another room. I found this helped alot. When he wakes up I can hear him stirring (on the monitor) he calls out and I call back to him. That way, he tends to stay on the bed until I come and get him.

I also taught him to "Stop. Turn Around and Slide Down" - which he does now all by himself and has done so for a while.