Those still co-sleeping

coasterqueen wrote: I think I might have misled you a little bit in my post yesterday about Kylie and her sleeping habits. True, we are letting her lead the way on the co-sleeping and when she's ready to sleep in her own room on her own, etc. BUT I wanted to add that Kylie is not co-sleeping with us 24/7. She used too. Now (on her own accord) sleeps in her room with daddy OR lately she's been sleeping all by herself all night long in her playroom. For some odd reason she is scared to death about sleeping all by herself in her room but she will sleep in her playroom which is right next door without any problems. WEIRD! So we are letting her sleep in there as long as she wants to. But some nights she'll come into our bedroom and sleep with us and others she'll ask daddy to come sleep with her and we do that too.

Just wanted to clarify that so you don't think I'm nutso or something, lol.

amynicole21 replied: That's strange! Have you set up a bed in the playroom for her? Maybe you could switch the two rooms?

Sophia still sleeps with us every night... I see no end in sight there

coasterqueen replied:
She says there are monsters in her bedroom and no matter what monster spray, hiring someone to come in and clean the carpets, room (with monster spray); bringing in a family member she didn't know to pretend to be someone who rids of monsters, etc etc it has't helped AT ALL. She has this nice expensive bedroom outfit in there that I'm paying on monthly and the child's barely using it unless she wants to sleep in there with daddy.

In her playroom she just has one of those foam Dora couches. She's WAY to big for it but she sleeps on it. DH told me this morning on the phone to find a bigger one for her if she's gonna sleep in there so I guess I will. Guess she's at least closer to her bedroom so maybe she'll get there some day. She watched a Caillou episode and says "When I'm 3 I'm going to start sleeping in my room by myself" but I'm not holding my breath.

The playroom is much smaller than her bedroom. I think her bed (full size) and maybe a dresser would fit in there and that's about it, lol. DH said swapping out the rooms is NOT an option.

Did you ever try getting one of those couches or a blow up mattress and putting it on the floor right next to you? Kylie loved doing that. She just needed to know we were right there in case she needed us. She didn't need us to sleep with her just know that we were in the same room.

Jamielou replied: carley slept with me until she was about 5 and then moved into her own room and now delaney sleeps with us most of the time but she will sleep in her own room in her own bed but i know this is bad but i sleep better with her right beside me.... i know ill pay for this

coasterqueen replied:
It's not bad in my book .

kimberley replied: Jade still co-sleeps most of the time. she almost always has to have one of us to fall asleep with and i will usually sneak off and go to bed. she nearly always ends up in our bed before morning . we have one of those pull out foam couch things she likes too.

the boys co slept with me for about 4-5yrs

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: Wil has never slept with us...well maybe once or twice...but he has always fallen asleep on his own in his crib. I don't think one way or the other is better. As a parent, you do what you have to do and what you feel is best for your own child.

But just a question: is it possible that Wil may want to start sleeping with us as he gets older, when his imagination matures? Like Kylie and the monsters in her room? Or is it safe to assume since he's always been in his room, he'll stay there? Just wondering since some of you have older kids. I know anything is possible, but just wondering if you guys started your children off in the bed because of BF or because you didn't want them to CIO in their rooms or because they climbed in themself when they were a bit older or just because you liked them closer? Or do you follow the attachment parenting theory? I'm just curious...no criticism here... just trying to prepare myself if things suddenly change.

A&A'smommy replied: LOL nobody thinks your nutso!! Poor kylie I hope those monsters disapeer soon!!

moped replied:
I would like to know this as well

amynicole21 replied: For us, we started out bf in bed then it just became the norm. I loved having her close - still do

amymom replied: My 14 yr old always slept in his own bed. He was sleeping 6-8 hours a night at 4 weeks and then from there slept in his own basinet, crib and then full size bed. His basinet was in our room but he was 16 lbs at 6 weeks so he didn't fit in it very long. As a toddler, it was sometimes hard for us to get him to go to bed, but he was an 'only' child for so long and until he attended school we didn't really push a bedtime on him. That was our fault, and he was really an easy kid to get to sleep.

But I didn't realize that his sleeping thru the night and alone was unusual or easy (I probably complained about him then ) until my DD came along. She didn't sleep for more than two hours at a time until her second birthday, but she had all kinds of difficulties, related to sleep that it is hard to pinpoint what kept her up. The only way I slept was if my DH was with her or if she 'played', cried or whatever in my bed while I catnapped, so I guess you could call that co-sleeping. At two, she told me (actually on her second birthday) "I am going to bed, because I am tired" and she did, It was 7:30. At 10:30 I thought something must be wrong, but I didn't check her until midnight. Boy was I glad she was still breathing. Ever since she is in bed at 7:30 (this summer she has stayed up later) and sleeps until 7 am or so.

In all this, the point I want to make is kids are different and need different things. I think you will give each kid what they need as they do and it all works out in the end. My 8 yr old DD still trys to sleep with us (and she succeeds some nights maybe 3-4 times a year) but my 14 yr old son hasn't asked to sleep in our bed in about 3 years Boy they grow up so fast.

julesmom replied: My dd will be three this month and sleeps ft with us. I don't think I am nutso!

I think part of her wanting to be with us is because her brothers share a room. Right now, she has to sleep alone in her room if she's not with us. Why should she have to sleep alone while her brothers have a buddy? I wouldn't want to.

maestra replied:
Us too.

jcc64 replied: We still co-sleep, although sometimes reluctantly. We have made some attempts at getting her into her own bed, but I just can't do the CIO thing, and I think that's the only way it will happen at this point in time. Way back in the Stone Ages, I made my oldest ds CIO, and I can remember his tortured screaming like it was yesterday. I'm still feeling badly about it 12 yrs later. Ds #2 slept through the night virtually from day 1. Corey started out in her own bassinet, but b/c we bf on demand for well over 2 yrs, it just became habitual that it occured in my bed. Most of the time I love having her there, but it does get to be a drag when we want to fool around.

coasterqueen replied:
Kylie started out in our bed because we were BF. We tried a few times when she was younger to even put her in a bassinette or a crib and it was a no go so we didn't push it. Also as months went on we realized this was the best thing for our family even if we weren't BF. BUT she didn't start out in our bed til about 4 or 5 months. I used to sleep in a chair with her the first several months then that got old.

coasterqueen replied: Oh also the only reason why I said i didn't want anyone to think I was nutso is because the post I wrote yesterday, well after re-reading it it kinda seemed like I was saying we still co-sleep full time and we don't. But even if we did I would feel the same way about what I wrote.

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
I've learned that anything is possible with kids. It isn't safe to assume anything. Seriously, this is possible. Maddie slept with me as an infant (Scotty worked out of town during the week). I loved having her close to me. It made me feel safe. Once she started getting to be more mobile she started sleeping in her crib. We co-slept on demand at that point. She did well in her crib, even after we moved. So well, in fact that we put her in her big girl bed at 18 months. She did well in her big girl bed from the beginning and she has always been a good sleeper once she got to sleep. She slept thru the night from 6 weeks on (12-14 hours). Then, I can't really recall when exactly, but things changed (I'm guessing she was 2-2.5). It became harder and harder to put her to bed. She was going to bed later and later, fighting me more and more at bedtime. I let her sleep on a pallete in our floor, but not in bed with us (we have a Full size bed and DH is a big man). We just let her lead the way pretty much all the while encouraging her to go to her bed. Now she sleeps in her room (except when she is sick)....we just have trouble getting her to bed still. Every night she tries to sleep in our bed, though. We just tell her that she has to sleep in her room. It takes her awhile to get to her room, but she does go without a fight. Maddie isn't scared of monsters and she isn't afraid of the dark. She just doesn't want to go to sleep! She is a busy body and she never stops.

MommyToAshley replied: Karen, could it be that there is a specific thing in her room that looks like a monster at night? Ashley still gets scared of shadows on the wall and when she does, she will say "that shadow scares me" and covers her eyes and won't even look up. I have to find anything making a shadow on the wall before she will go back to bed. They really do have active imaginations at this age.

I agree with the others... There is no right or wrong answer, you do what works best for your family. I never co-slept with Ashley when she was younger because I was scared to. I know I am just paranoid, but I just couldn't do it. I would rock her for a long time before she went to bed, and everyone kept telling me that she was too old to rock. Heck, we still sit in the rocking chair and read books and rock and sing lullabyes before she goes to sleep, and I will be so sad the day that she doesn't want me to rock her any more. Whether it's co-sleeping or rocking, I think we should cheerish these moments while we can because it won't be long before they are gone.