Our daughter, now 16 months, has slept in our bed for over a year now. We were very happy with this way of sleeping for this period of time, but we are beginning to miss having our bed to ourselves. We would like to get our daughter to sleep in a bed of her own, but of course without letting her cry it out. Does anyone have advice?? Can one recommend letting her sleep in a big bed of her own, so that we can join her for a while in the evening to get her to sleep, or would that only make sleeping more difficult for her? At the moment we don't have a strict routine for bedtime, we just cuddle up together, read a book or watch her favourite children's programme on tv, and then she usually falls asleep (or not, when she isn't tired yet, but after some running around she always returns to me in the big bed and falls asleep). No problem at the moment, but we don't want to share our bed for another year or so!

dear nienke,
we have never transitioned so early...really, We still have a 3 year old, a almost 6 yo and an almost 9yo in bed! the bed is extra wide but right now it is rather cramped, lol.

I cant imagine not sleeping with my little ones, it seems to be the best medicine for straining attachment bonds that sometimes happens when the little ones start to grow and become more independent, seeking me out less and less during the day.

if you are feeling like your couple time together is suffering, maybe a little bed for you two do play on would be good? and who knows. maybe because your love energy is there, your dd eventually would take to sleeping there just fine! maybe you could be doing musical beds til she transitions...

just thinking out loud, as ive never done it myself with such a young baby!
xxmelissa
in italy
mamma of 7

Dear Melissa,

Thanx for your reply, it's already very nice to hear how other parents are doing cosleeping etc. Where we live, there aren't many parents who are having their children in their beds, or even breastfeeding for over a few months... So it's great to hear from you, and to read the other topics!
The reason we would like our daughter to sleep in her own bed is mainly that we don't get any time for just the two of us. DD usually doesn't sleep before half past eight, and at that time I'm exhausted as well, so I often just stay in bed with her. And even when I'm still wide awake, I'm not comfortable leaving her alone in our bed, since she's rolling around in bed a lot, during sleep, and I'm afraid she might fall. How did you do that with your children? And did your children just naturally move out of your bed at a certain age?

xx Nienke

Hello,

I do have some experience with getting the little one to sleep in his own bed. Our son is almost two and a few months ago we bought him a big bed. We also wanted our bed to ourselves again.
From the day he got his own bed, he wanted to sleep in it. Just like he had been waiting for it to come.
I still breastfeed him before going to sleep and during the knight (several times). Sometimes he won't sleep without me in his bed and after going from one bed to the other I often fall a sleep next to my son.
I am happy he wants to sleep in his own bed and in his own room. I am now just wating for the day he feels save to sleep the night by himself. I guess it will be the day he won't drink from the breast anymore.

Most important to me is that he feels save and he doesn't need to cry himself to sleep. So I'm there for him and he knows this. He is happy with it.

I hope my experience can be of a support to you.

Greeting Vera

Hello,

I do have some experience with getting the little one to sleep in his own bed. Our son is almost two and a few months ago we bought him a big bed. We also wanted our bed to ourselves again.
From the day he got his own bed, he wanted to sleep in it. Just like he had been waiting for it to come.
I still breastfeed him before going to sleep and during the knight (several times). Sometimes he won't sleep without me in his bed and after going from one bed to the other I often fall a sleep next to my son.
I am happy he wants to sleep in his own bed and in his own room. I am now just wating for the day he feels save to sleep the night by himself. I guess it will be the day he won't drink from the breast anymore.

Most important to me is that he feels save and he doesn't need to cry himself to sleep. So I'm there for him and he knows this. He is happy with it.

I hope my experience can be of a support to you.

Greetings Vera

We have a big bedroom and it was getting a bit cramped in our bed with 4 people and 1 on the way so I moved another bed into the room as well. The 2 boys now start the night in their own double bed and we have our bed to ourselves. Early morning DS1 comes into me and DH goes into DS2 depending on when they wake and start calling. If DS2 sleeps next to me he wants to feed and we're trying to cut that down now I'm pregnant.

When we had 4 in the bed we had a cot on the side. It was raised up to the bed level with one side off and it gave us more room and stopped DS2 falling out. If DS1 is in the bed he insists on sleeping in the middle so it's nice to have him in his own bed for a few hours.

We have a cot with only 3 sides next to our bed. The matress is just a bit lower than ours, so DD rolled into that to sleep, but couldn't roll out. But once we went to bed she could choose how close she likes to be to me, most nights she likes to have her own space, but some nights she likes to be snuggled right into me. We have a single bed in what will be her room, and we use that ourselves when we want some private time.