Co-sleepers- What do you do when #2 comes along?

[Ginger]

ds has been co-sleeping since birth. he doesn't bfeed o/night anymore- but he does wake up and sometimes need a cuddle/spoon/back rub to get back to sleep...

now #2 is coming along...and i would like to co-sleep with him if it suits him...as i find it much easier to bfeed o/night when co-sleeping.

so my dilemma is......what should i do? can they both co-sleep with me? (don't worry about dp, he's more than happy to sleep in the spare room )
do i need to move ds into his own bed (maybe still in my room?) or does he need to be completely away in his own room?

i'd love to hear about your own experiences- i don't mind sleeping with them both and getting woken all night, i'm use to it now but i really want to do what's best for them both iykwim?
thanks

[Mum0809]

I don't see a problem with co-sleeping with them both as long as you put one on either side of you, for safety reasons, you are conscious of the baby's presence, even during sleep but children don't have this awareness. The only problem I can see is ur baby might wake your ds if s/he crys.

[Ginger]

thanks jo,
yeah that's exactly what i thought. ds is a pretty good sleeper though- he takes ages to get to sleep, but once he'a asleep he's asleep!

[~Saram~]

Buy a bigger bed :=)

Now it's a bit different for us as DS was 4yo when DD was born and didn't co-sleep as much anymore, it was more a 3-4am crawl in snuggle. Having said that there have been plenty of times come midnight we have had both in our bed, I usually sleep between them althought after DD was 1+ they did like sleeping next to each other.

We would put DS in to his own bed and then bring him in to cosleep if he woke so we didn't have the concern with new beds and stuff. If your eldest is used to cosleeping then I would leave them there, at least until a while after the baby was born. I would have a second bed mattress in case anyone you, bub or DS needs some space and tell DS that he has his very own bed, if he wants to sleep there - he might like the idea of having his own space away from the baby.

DS and DD share a room here and love it, the noise has never been a problem for DS? and it's nice now to be able to put them both to bed and be there for both of them and of course they have each other as well

[Ginger]

thanks sarah,
yeah we're thinking of making ds a special new bed in his room, but not making him sleep there, more just making it available for him if he wants it iykwim?

[Ellibam]

we bought a king size bed! haha
but friends of mine have a queen and a single next toeach other but up against a wall so when #2 was really small she was by the wall and #1 slept either inbetween mum and dad or on the single bed next to dad!