Question for those who co-sleep

[TTC LADY]

So after many a sleepless night with LO refusing to sleep longer than 45mins in either his crib or cot, I have made a decision to co- sleep with him until 5-6 months.

However DH and I are bit concerned that we may be setting ourselves up for trouble later on when we want our own bed back and want to transition LO into his own bedroom.

For those of you who have co-slept daily, was the transition into LO own bed a lengthy process, any tips and advice most welcome.

My position is we'll deal with it at the time, but just wanted to hear others experiences.

Thanks

 

[Gidz]

Stalking! We're in a similiar boat!

 

[tristansmum]

We didn't officially co sleep with my first but he was awful at settling and just wanted to be held so he slept with us a lot! He is now 2 1/2 and happily in his own room. I'd say do what you need to do at the time and worry about it later. At 5-6 months the sleep deprevation will be better so you will be able to deal with teaching him to settle himself much much better

 

[Dragonfly]

Thats when you get trouble when you try and move your baby before they are ready. I didnt set out to do that I set out to have them go when they where ready which most do that choose to bed share. My oldest is in his own bed for a while now, his decision and my youngest will do the same. Sorry no help on moving them before they are ready it really does depend on your child.

 

[charlie15]

We co sleep and now LO is 7months I think we would have problems transitioning her into cot, not impossible but tough. As it is we are happy to carry on as we are however initially I also thought that I would want DD her cot by 6 months but I don't so you never know how you will feel later. But if you do still want to make that transition in the future I suggest doing it before 6 months, ideally around 5 months so after possible 4 month sleep regression but before 6 months where some babies can get separation anxiety but also they really know what they want by this age. Just try to encourage naps in the cot when you can and use to cot for play and chill out times so your LO is always comfortable in the cot and has positive associations with it. Then you could have the cot by your bed, if possible with the side down and when ready you could put LO in the cot but next to you in the bed and gradually make changes, such as put the side up, move the cot further away from your bed and then into LO's room where maybe you may need to spend a night or two. I don't know if that works with your set up, but mainly making sure LO is happy in the cot, if not give it a break for a while. Then use a gradual transition, that's what I would do anyway, but I'm sure other on here may have better advice who have been through the transition.

 

[hubblybubbly]

I've bed shared with willow, and then helped her self settle in her own cot for the beginning of the night using various sleep training methods once she was old enough (we waited until 11 months as it was when it became the right time for us) however when she wakes in the night she comes and bed shares for the rest of the night (usually from 10-12pm onwards)

We've been waiting it out for her to be able to self settle through the night as well as at the beginning, and over the past month or two she's spent several full nights in her cot, we're not there yet by any means but things seem to be changing.

So to answer you're question....yes the process of transitioning has been a lengthy one, but then we're waiting for her to do it in her own time rather than on our schedule.

Oh and you may find that you LOVE bed sharing so much that you don't necessarily want it to stop....

 

[TheNewMrs]

Trinity is 14 months now. Starts the night in her own bed quite happily. Sleeps there 5 nights out of 7, the other 2 she wakes up and is in with us. It happened naturally for us. She needed her own space to sleep in. Was getting annoyed at night and loved to stretch out so it worked well. If she is teething, upset, or anything she's in with me and Daddy sleeps in her room. But nope no issues here so far.

 

[AdriansMama]

We shared our bed with adrian until he was 6 months old. Then we would do "cuddle time" and move him to his pack'n play beside our bed after he fell asleep. Hes now 4 and we still do our cuddle time and he gets carried to bed but in his own room and that works for us. We are doing the same with Jaxton except that he has a crib in our room that will turn into a toddler bed and we wont be putting him in the vrib at 6 months. Im not sure what age we will move him most likely by the time hes 1 though

 

[fairydust87]

I co-slept from 4 months. When he was 10 months I wanted to wean him out of my bed. It took 2 nights Now hes fully in his bed and I get to spread out in mine

 

[Lady_Venom]

I was so worried about the co-sleeping aspect. I worried that if I decide to do this, how hard will it be to get her to sleep in her own crib when the time is right? I worried for nothing! I have co-slept since birth and at 4 months she is now self settling so I thought, why not try placing her in her crib for the night? I tried it first with naps and she slept just as she normally would on the bed. I then tried leaving her in the crib overnight and it was absolutely fine! I thought this was going to be some long process trying to get her to gain independence but the transition was quite natural and simple. In my opinion, co-sleeping made her confident, reassured her that I was always there, etc instead of leaving her on her own in a crib from day one. This is the way I saw it and it is just my opinion. Not saying what is right or wrong. Imagine how scary you would be as an infant being placed in a crib and not snuggling in protective arms. You don't know anything, can't defend yourself but love the smell and warmth of your mother. Think of the caveman days. I doubt they would place their young in a separate spot. I believe they would be cradling them and keeping them close from predators. In turn the baby would not cry and draw in the predators. Since we decided to co-sleep from birth, it just felt like the right thing to do. We never lost any sleep like most new parents, for she was silent in my arms the whole night for months. I feel she eased herself into self settling as she matured and realised parents were always near. I am glad I decided to co-sleep because I feel this is how she became confident enough to sleep on her own in a crib now at 4 months. Well there is my input with my personal theories .

 

[Aimee4311]

It's funny, I was just thinking about this today! We've been bed sharing since about 2 weeks old, and I love it! She does too. As Lady Venom said, I've never really lost much sleep because she never has to cry to get my attention. A little moan or rooting around and I can just roll to my side and pop a boob in and we're both back asleep quickly!

 

[beanzz]

We co sleep and have since birth, thinking about putting oaks in his own room soon though. Atm I put LO into my bed then come back out into the lounge to chill for a few hours so me and OH get some us time and he still sleeps pretty well so I reckon I'll just have to lie with him in his toddler bed until he's asleep but I don't know how you'll do it at 5 months... Maybe start by having the cot or whatever in your room to get LO used to sleeping in that but still close to you then move the cot back into his own room once he is used to it. Will probs need a bit of bum patting to help him get off to sleep in the cot... Good luck for when you decide to do it

 

[septemberbaby]

We had a bedside cot, which was amazing. I would just move myself to be half in the cot to feed her, so when she was done I wouldn't have to move and wake her. She started going to bed without us at about 3 months old I think...when she started crawling at 6.5 months we moved the cot round and put the 4th side on, so now it's like a "proper" cot, and she still goes to sleep great in it. We do still cosleep for the last stretch of night (usually 3-4 to 6 o'clock) which I'm fine to keep up until whenever.

 

[Serafina83]

I co slept with my daughter as it was Easter for breast feeding. When she was a little older she went not her own bed fine but she would wake in the middle of the night and get into our bed till she was about 3. X