Co-sleeping question???

[Kaileysmum]

My dd sleeps in her cot during the day, and at night she goes down into her cot, and if she wakes during the night (which is most nights) we co-sleep with her, and she loves it. She is 8mths and I was wondering when I should stop co-sleeping??? Or when did you co-sleeping parents stop co-sleeping with your child?

[kymmy]

That is a good question!
I think it should be up to you of course-
I can only tell you of my experience.
I think co-sleeping is great.
It has helped our family get enough sleep.
And I think our kids feel safe and secure.
My husband slept with his parents til he was 10
WE have enough beds (more than enough) but we have a family bed.
My older kids (6 & 3) choose where they sleep.
I am breastfeeding so I sleep on a king single bed with my baby most of the night.

In other words I don't think there is a right time to stop co-sleeping.
It depends what your attitude is towards an older child sleeping in with u
and also your lifestyle....

[Kaileysmum]

Thanks kymmy, I so agree it helps to get that extra sleep. I thank co-sleeping for my full nights sleep. Im not really sure when I will feel the need to stop it, i suppose when my dd stops waking during the night. I think she only wakes up because she knows she can come sleep with mummy and daddy. I think I'll have to get a bigger bed as I love sleeping with her as I know she's ok.

[cupcakemafia]

Kaileysmum - my husband and I co-sleep with our baby - same situation as you guys - she goes to sleep in a bassinette next to our bed when we go to bed, wakes up at about 4am and I feed her and then she comes back to our bed to sleep the rest of the morning... it works really well at the moment, we're always very wary about rolling onto her etc - we even bought a bigger bed so we'd all have more room. Our bub is only just under 2 months, and shes sleeping later and later in her own bassinette each week (she started waking at 12 midnight when she was younger, and now its usually around 3:30am-4pm).. hopefully soon she'll just sleep the entire night and wake up in the morning when we do! We've been blessed with an amazingly good lil' girl :kiss:

[tyler's mum]

i co-sleep with tyler,, she always starts of in her cot but end up in my bed it pretty much come down to me being to tried getting up just to give her dummie throught the nite some may think its just me being lazy:rolleyes: but im a single mum so there is no one else to do it also i find tyler and myself get a much better sleep when she is in my bed,,, im sure in time she will sleep all night in her room when she is ready same go's for Kailey

[vavavanny]

We are a co-sleeping family. It's wonderful and we all get a full nights sleep.
The only time it has been hard for us was when we decided to start trying for a second baby. But we sent bubs to my mum's house and she co-slept with him too!

[cheezelkat]

aww, I wish my mum was that supportive of co-sleeping. She really hates it :( and thinks DS will grow up with behavioural issues :no:

I personally think its a wonderful way for both me and DF to bond with DS. DF says he's nowhere near ready to stop co-sleeping. We're blessed that DS doesn't move around much at night. It's the only way I could get enough sleep to feel refreshed.

[Rainbowbrite]

I personally think its a wonderful way for both me and DF to bond with DS. DF says he's nowhere near ready to stop co-sleeping. We're blessed that DS doesn't move around much at night. It's the only way I could get enough sleep to feel refreshed.

We are the same. I've had numerous conversations with DH about when to move MJ to her own room. His answer is always "when she's ready" :) He knows it might take years but as she is more than likely going to be our only bub, we want to enjoy her & soak up the affection while she's willing to share it :smiliedance:

MJ sleeps either between us or between me & the cot & moves very little. Only really when she wants me to attach her for a quick sip :yes: Atleast this way i;m not getting up & freezing to feed her, i just roll over & lift my shirt :laughing:

[Percy]

We are in the exact same situation. DS goes down into his cot, but usually wakes again around 2.00am. I actually sleep with him then on a matress on his floor and he loves it! i must admit i love it too, waking up to see his cute smile!

I know its not ideal, but my advice is just to do what is right for you. Get your sleep whatever way you can!!

[KLTN]

I love co-sleeping! I don't think I would have gotten any sleep for the last 7 years without it. With each of my babies I put the cot up (inour room) with every intention of using it, but it ends up being a great storage place for washing instead! This time, with #4 I am not even going to delude myself by getting the cot out of storage!!
Our older children have their own beds as well as ours and we have an open door policy in our house so they feel safe to come and go as they need too. Our 7yr old only comes in when she has had a nightmare or something and the younger 2 (4yrs and 2.5yrs) seem to go in phases depending on how they are emotionally.
I just love waking up and having a lovely little face looking back at me saying 'good morning mummy' I start my day with a smile!
I think as parents we need to follow our own instincts and the needs of our child/ren and do what works for our family!

[Mum2Bug]

I love co-sleeping. I never intended to but this winter has been the coldest in perth in years and a few weeks ago i realised Bug was sleeping better during the night when she was in my QS bed with me. might have something to do with my electric blanket and not security tho. despite the constant bruises over my body i am really enjoying waking up to her face 2cm over mine. hehe. gotta love them!

[Jem]

Ive always co-slept with my kids..

still co-sleeping with ds2 who is 13 months :D

[evesmum]

hi,

we are in the same position as well while our little girl used to sleep with us she then decided at about 8mths to climb into her cot and have a nap and slept there ever since but at about 12mths up until now (she is 19mths) she has day time sleeps in her cot and statrts of in her cot at night but then comes into us through the night most of the time we dont even wake to her coming in she just crawls in between us and pulls the blanket up.

In regard to 'giving up' co - sleeping while of course if you begin to feel uncomfortable having your child/children sleep with you then you can try something else but my opinion is that it should be the childs choice to leave the family bed. There is good research to suggest that by starting out co sleeping and then enforcing cot sleeping only confuses the child and makes them feel as though you are pushing them away. Most children will leave the family bed around 3-5 because this is when they are becoming more independant and secure in their attachments.

goouck and happy sleeping:thumbsup:

[marcelsmum]

Hi Everyone, I think co sleeping is great, our son was sleeping through so much earlier than other children and a full night sleep as you know to a young mum is fantastic. there is however a big downfall. Marcel is now 7years old and despite the fact that he is happy to go to bed in his own bed. I still wake up virtually everymorning and find him in bed with us. ( I do not even wake up when he comes in anymore.) The only days he does not come ito our bed I go into his room to find he has either let the dog or the cat in and is cuddling up to one of them while he is fast asleep.

Hopefully he will be out of this pattern before he gets much older.

(Can you picture a teenage boy still climbing into mum and dads bed OH god I hope not)

and people wonder why he is still an only child

(hoping that will change real soon)

[LucyE]

I was wondering when I should stop co-sleeping???
If you are happy with the situation, then don't change. Don't stop because you think 'society' thinks you should or are being pressured by outsiders - it's none of their business what your sleeping arrangements are. However, if you or your DH are unhappy with it, then by all means, start trying something different.

Or when did you co-sleeping parents stop co-sleeping with your child?
We coslept from birth (even in hospital) and still sort of do it :o Around 15 months we moved DS out of our bed and into a sidecar arrangement (single mattress on the floor) so that he was still close but had his own bed. It made night time comforting very easy but I actually found he started to sleep better that way anyway.

At 23 months we moved house and shifted him into his own bedroom. I again set up a single mattress next to his cot (which has the sides removed so DS can climb in and out at will) so that if needed, DH or I could sleep with him. We found he made the transition easier than we did LOL He now no longer wants to sleep in our bed and kicks up a huge fuss whenever we try. It's funny because although DH wasn't keen on cosleeping in the beginning, he now really misses it and tries to bring DS into bed with us whenever he can. DS just won't have a bar of it though. DS now sleeps through most nights on his own but lately I've been falling alseep in his bed before he does (pregnancy tiredness) so we are kinda cosleeping for the first part of the night until I need to go to the toilet.

On a side note, I've found cosleeping to be a great reassuring tool for when on holidays (just got back from one). There's no need for other inanimate 'comforting' items/tools because we are there. We've travelled a bit with DS since he was 3 months old and we've never had to worry about him not settling in a new place.