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I always said that I would never let my kids sleep in bed with me. I saw my sister co-sleep with her kids. Nope, nope, nope. At one point she had two kids sleeping with her and her husband. With my first son I was careful to not even allow him to lay on my bed ever. When he was a toddler, if he crawled into my bed in the middle of the night I would promptly take him back to his bed. We never really had any problems.
With my next son I was able to successfully breastfeed. I thought that would lead to better sleeping. I was wrong. I would get him from his crib and take him to the couch to nurse. Once he was asleep I would try to lay him down in crib. Every single time he touched the crib, he would startle awake crying. We would sit back on the couch and nurse again. This cycle continued for weeks, and we were both exhausted. My husband kept finding us on the couch. He would say, "Just bring him to bed." I refused. Finally he said that it was unsafe for us to be on the couch like that. I was too tired to argue about it, so I brought my son to bed with us. Oh happy day! He was sleeping for longer stretches. Everyone was comfortable. He was the happiest baby. It got to the point where I could nurse him back to sleep, barely waking myself.
Fast forward to age 2...he was never much of a bed hog, but he is starting to be one now. He wants to be touching me, so if I scoot over, he scoots over. My sister eventually moved her boys into a room of their own. My nephews shared a bed for a year or two until they were ready for separate beds. I would love to move the toddler into bed with my 8 year old. Especially since his recent visit to the allergist. It would be better for him to sleep in that room than ours since our dog sleeps in our room.
Any tips, tricks, or advice for ending co-sleeping?
(P.s. We cannot cry it out. Makes me an absolute nervous wreck.)