Co-sleeping - Buffalo Grove, IL

Hi C.,

Our 6 and 5 year old co-sleep with us. It started with my 6 year old son who has disabilities and seizures. I wasn't comfortable being away from him. And then our daughter who's now five, came quite closely behind him, and she was colicky. And I was already in the habit of having our son in bed with us that it was easier to have her there too. It works great for us. They sleep way better with us there, and I sleep better knowing that I am so close by in case of any emergency. There can be strongly opinionated people on this subject. Good luck to you, and only you know what works best for you and your son.

J.

My eight month old has co-slept with us since about 3 months old and we plan on continuing until he is ready to sleep by himself--which from the posts below seems it could be a long time.
I love co-sleeping. It is great to wake up to a smiling happy baby and I get so much more rest than when I tried to get him to sleep in his crib. Glad to read all the positive posts on this rather than the cry-it-out method.

My husband and I were just discussing when and how to start putting our son in his own bed. He loves going to bed with us at night and seems so much more secure that we do. He just turned 2 last week, and he's been co sleeping at first as an infant, and then just around his first birthday started again when he was sick and has been since. If we try to put him in his crib, he screams until he falls asleep and I can't listen, so we still are bringing him in. He loves the before bed rituals we have and waking up with mom (dad's already gone for work :)
I say go for it as long as everyone is getting un-interrupted sleep.
There are nights we transfer him to his crib because he can be quite the kicker, but usually he wakes with me. If we transfer him, he tends to wake 3 hrs earlier than usual and calls for me to get him and bring him in our room. I just worry that we are creating a monster since our bed isn't big enough for two adults and a grown child, he can't stay there until he's 7 or 8 no way!! Plus we are expecting again in May, so we'll have to break him into a big boy bed soon :( so that I can nurse.

It is so interesting that you just posted about this as it has been a hot topic in our family recently. Long story short, my two and a half year old daughter has co slept with us on and off from birth. We used the Weisbluth book as well to get her to go to sleep on her own in her crib, and it worked, most of the time. She has never been a good sleeper and has often woken up in the middle of the night and REALLY early. For the past few months she has been sleeping exclusively with us rather than her "big girl bed" and I don't mind it because as you mentioned, she sleeps the night through as well as sleeping later. The issue I have is that she now has to have us "snuggle" with her till she falls asleep rather than just going to sleep on her own, which makes me crazy only because it can take up to an hour.
We are going to try to get her to fall asleep on her own in her own bed because bedtime is very drawn out now.
I guess I have no real advice, but am interested in hearing what others say.

We started co-sleeping with our now 4 yr old just before he turned 3 because of nighttime seizure issues. Before that, we had used the Healthy Sleep Habits methods and he was NEVER a very good napper and nighttime we THOUGHT was ok. Turns out that once we started co-sleeping we realized that his nighttime sleep was very disturbed (in part due to the seizure issue). It's amazing how much you don't know what's going on when you are not in the same room/bed!

Well, I started co-sleeping with my now 2 yr old since birth and it has been a MUCH better experience. Did not set out to do it past infancy but I honestly don't want to stop (unless he leads it) and he loves it. He's much more trusting, independent, and starting talking much earlier than my first son. He also sleeps later in the morning which my first son never did because he was always fussing in the morning. What a wonderful way to wake up, with a loving parent next to you (and vice versa)!

Although we are still co-sleeping at this age, I do have a circle of friends that co-slept and their older children have moved on to sleep independently when they were ready (usually school-age, 7-8 yrs old). No one has had to push the kids out of their bed as some people would have you believe.

Best of luck to you and enjoy those precious moments of cuddling and more sleep!

Karen C.

Wow! I am glad to hear this! My son now 4 years old has been sleeping in our bed since he was about a year. He was never a good sleeper from birth and now we all get sleep! He is happy and well adjusted. Good for you!! I don't like to tell people this because there are very strong opinions and everyone always says "he should be in his own bed!" I always ask why?? If it works for us?! Too bad. I am sure by 7 or 8 he will want to sleep in his own bed. I slept with my parents too when I was young. I bet if more parents would try it, they would be happier too! I wish you the best and glad to hear that we are not the only ones.