Co-Sleeping

[Frantelle]

Hi all,

My husband and I are still co-sleeping with our son - he is 26 months.

We have a double bed set up in his room and alternate nights for sleeping with him, so one night I do the next night DH does. He still wakes 2 or 3 times a night and has a bottle.

I was wondering when you stopped co-sleeping and how you went about it. Im not sure if Im comfortable with him sleeping in his ow.n room by himself, but then Im not sure if I ever will be he still seems so small.

So when is too old to co-sleep.

[glorious]

we started them in their own beds and they could come into our bed anytime in the night. they still do this at 7 and 5.

If your not ready to have him by himself then dont, but you can try things like laying with him to sleep then leaving until he needs you again.

[Jaycee]

My little man is 21 months and we are just starting the transition. I am sleeping with him in his single bed and in a couple of nights I will start to sneak off when he's asleep and take it from there. We were ready to do this though, I can imagine it would be hard if you're not ready for it. Good luck

[blackduckies]

We just let them go when they want, we found that around 3-4 they like to go into their own bed but will sometimes wake an hop into our bed, but by the time they are 5-6 they hardly ever wake, they might come for a cuddle in the morning on a weekend.
We have a cot & a bed set up in our bedroom and our 4 year old happily starts off in there and more often than not sleeps through in it now, our 2 year old starts in her own cot but wakes every night around 12-2am and transfers in with us, we don't offer feeds only cuddles, i would be seriously working on ending that perhaps have a water bottle at hand they soon change their mind about that & soon our 2 year old will be having a visit from the dummy fairy leave the dummies out for a trade of something very fairyish.... maybe that would work for a bottle too?

[Cherished]

Hi hon. Up until a week and a half ago I was co-sleeping with DS who still woke up every night. I would lay down with him in a double bed in his room and then go to bed in our room, when DS woke up I would just go down to him and jump in his bed until the morning. We decided to get him a toddler bed to see how he would go. I think it's been really successful. There has been a couple of nights that I would consider he has slept through the night (4am, 4:45 and 5am) which prior to the toddler bed were unheard of. He has started getting up during the middle of the night (early morning) and jumping in our bed, 3 times so far, which is just lovely He snuggles up and sleeps for longer in the morning in with us. Normally he would wake up between 5 & 6 and I would consider 7am a huge sleep in but now we are getting out of bed around 7am which is awesome. It's still taking him a while to drift off to sleep in his bed. He has milk on the couch next to his bed first and then lays down while my hand is still on him and goes to sleep, prior to that we would be fully snuggled up in bed together. It's a transition, hoping he will end up drifting off with me just sitting there and finally just go to sleep without me needing to be there at all. I'm also trying to wean, have got milk down to just sleep times now which is also maybe why he is sleeping better.

[onthefly]

We basically do it when they're sleeping through and showing signs of being able to sleep independently. DS was about 2, DD we plan to move soon - she's getting there.

[BhoysGirl]

I like how the responses in this thread show how normal co-sleeping is, but how unique to each family the set-up is.

My 5yo still co-sleeps, he sleeps all night without stirring pretty much. Over the last couple of months he's wanted to try sleeping in his own bed, but everytime he has woken 2-3 times in the night & needed help settling, and ended up coming back to snuggle with me.
My nearly 3 DS2 is still really insistent on feeding overnight, which I'm trying to stop, but he's not even close to wanting to sleep in his own space. I'm trying hard to stop the overnight feeds, but it's a comfort feed thing, so replacing it with water isn't going to work (even if I could turn BM into water).

I don't let outside pressure get to me too much - afterall, our family sleeping arrangements don't impact any body else in the slightest, so I'm going to do what works for us, not what someone else tells me I "should" be doing. I'm quietly confident that they will eventually want their own bed, and it will be well before they're grown-up. And in the meantime, I'm enjoying the cuddles, and knowing that I'm giving them the security & comfort that they obviously need.

[Babyluv]

DD is 26 months and we have a new bub who is 2 months.
Before bub came along if DD woke in the night she would come into bed with us until morning. She would start off in her bed and we would probably have a cpl nights a week that she would wake and end up with us. Now if she wakes in the night my hubby will go and sit with her or just look in on her and she goes back to sleep. DS is co sleeping and I don't feel safe having them both in the bed and DD is happy with how things are.

[HotI]

The first night that DD moved into her bed in her room, i decided that if she woke before 12 we would try to resettle her in her room, if it was after 12 then she would come back to our bed. I planned to then increase the time for settling. I really needed a plan, cos i didn't want to be making plans up in the middle of the night.

However, the first night she completely surprised us by sleeping til 3am! She actually began sleeping better in her own bed than when she was in with us.

We have found that cosleeping is not an all or nothing thing. DD moved in to her own room over 18 months ago, and while she mostly sleeps in her own bed all night, we still here the pitter patter of little feet and her crawling in some nights or she will call out but just need a cuddle and be happy to go back to sleep.

DS is in a side car cot and then in our bed from first wakeup, but i am considering trialling the two kids cosleeping together, once he reduces night feeds.
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[~TT40~]

can i ask for when bubs do cosleep whete do they nap during the day?
Spock is only 8mths and i felt i had to move her to her own room just so she had somewhere safe to sleep during the day.. cause she keeps falling out of our bed =(
the cot was sidecart but there isnt enough room to have the cot seperate (so had 4sides) but still in our room.

im still not comfortable having her in a different room...but she wasnt safe with us

[nickle730]

My DD2 is 26 months and co sleeps in the middle of our king sized bed. She has her day time nap in our bed as well, I just put her down on her pillow towards the middle of the bed. Can't remember if she had a pillow at 8 months? Maybe not. She either falls asleep in the car and I transfer her or we sit on the couch and she has a BF then I put her in bed.

DD1 co slept, she moved to her own bed when she was almost 5 and going to start prep. DS would not co sleep, he liked his own space. Given the option both my big kids would co sleep now, I have considered buying another kings sized bed and putting it in the bedroom next to ours so we can have a supersized family bed!

[HotI]

wHEN ds was that age i had the cot with 4 sides on up against our bed. He mainly slept in the cot for naps and so couldn't fall out.

He first went to sleep in the cot and when he woke, i could just lift him over the side of the cot into the bed. The cot then provided a side to the bed so he couldn't fall out of bed.

He can now get off bed safely (doesn't that often though), and so i have only 3 sides on the cot and he can crawl from cot to bed or i can pick him up.

[Honeybee]

We have our 4 year old DS1 in a single bed in our bedroom, which works well for everyone. We moved him to his own bed when DS2 was on the way. DS2 is 21 months and recently we have moved him into a single bed pushed up against our bed - our bedroom is crammed full of beds! We love having our boys in the same room as us, having them in another room would feel weird. It would also be hard I think for DS1 to be in his own room when DS2 sleeps with us. Nice to keep everyone all together.

When DS2 was a baby he slept on our bed, I bought a video monitor so that I could make sure he was safe. The monitor was great, it enabled me to get up and do things while he slept. Now he's bigger, he just gets off the bed himself when he wakes up. I do still put pillows around the edges if the bed just in case he rolls when he's asleep. He's never fallen off though.

[Frantelle]

Thanks guys.

I think in a couple of months we will try putting D down in his bed and then go back in when he wakes. Our rooms are right across the hall from each other so he wont be that far away - Im just not ready to do it just yet.

Hearing that Im not the only one co-sleeping with a two year old is great.

To answer a question above, for day sleeps when D was younger we put him down on the floor in the lounge room. Now that he is older we put on his bed for his day sleep (when he has a day sleep). Saying that when he has his day sleep I still check on him every half an hour which is part of the reason Im not ready to let him sleep on his own yet.

[onthefly]

DD just sleeps in my bed during the day, too. She did roll out a few times earlier, but no more.

[Butterfly Dawn]

Dd is 20 mth and just moved her into her "big girl" bed. The cot with a few bars cut out so she can get in and out, in our room but away from our bed. She loves it.
She starts in our bed but I tell her when she's asleep i'll put her in her bed and shes fine like that for now.

Its an individual thing for sure and some trial and error till you find your groove

[BellyBelly]

To help with the rolling out of bed, I found a bed rail to be a great help. Safe and Sound (I think it is) make a good one.

[~TT40~]

i thought of getting a bed rail, it would be good for rolling but i can picture Spock trying to climb over it...
sorry to hijack!! just been having problems with this =p