Co-sleeping with 2 - Rockwall,TX

My cousin did co-sleeping with her kids. They slept on a mattress on the floor (for fear of falling out of bed.) When they were expecting baby no. 2, they moved their toddler onto his own twin mattress in their room, right next to theirs and left it like that for quite a while (even after the baby was born). Eventually he started napping in hiw own bed in his own room and finally was ready to move there at night too. Good luck!

Whatever you do, I would try to make any change NOT related to the baby coming. You don't want him to feel like he is being displaced. Make it early enough that it is a stand-alone event, and related to him being a big boy.

You've got some good suggestions already. I just want to add that you might want to have some contingency plans in case the option you decide on doesn't work out. We co-slept with our first son until he was about 18 months, then tried to transition him before the new baby came along. He frequently returned to our bed though. However, when baby #2 came along, he was a noisy and wriggly sleeper, and I could not sleep with him in the room! I even had a co-sleeper attachment so he had his own space to sleep, but still the noise of him wriggling around kept waking me. We had the boys sharing a room, and big brother decided he wanted to sleep in "their" room, so we ended up without anyone else in our room, when we had expected 2! When baby #3 arrived, we were willing to co-sleep again, but this time the baby couldn't sleep well while in our bed. He liked the co-sleeper though, so he at least stayed in our room for 6 months before he outgrew it. Anyway, my point is to have several backup sleeping arrangements, because everything may change once baby arrives! Also, I second the advice to make sure that the baby is not sleeping next to brother, especially if he is cuddly. Good luck and congratulations on your impending arrival!

I don't know how well this would work with a newborn, but I'll tell you what we did when my last one was older. I have 2, my 1st didn't co-sleep, but the 2nd did almost right from the beginning. She also slept propped in the boppy pillow between me & my DH. Around the time she was a year or so, my oldest wanted to sleep with us. At almost 5, he was pretty long, so feet were an issue. We would still put them between us, but I would sleep foot-head, not head-foot. Meaning, my head was at everyone else's feet. Not as bad as it sounds. LOL It would be DH, son (oldest), daughter, then me, at the foot. I was able to curl myself around her little feet & still have lots of room and, I was also able to feel her when she curled up with my legs. Don't know if something like that would work for you. And, it would depend on when you're due as to whether it would work getting your son in his own bed before the new baby. When we were ready to start the transition, we just put a nice soft blanket pallet on the floor for the kids. They slept together for a long time on the floor in our room. Now, they both go to bed in their own beds & my daughter will come to us in the middle of the night.
Good luck in whatever you choose & YEAH!! for co-sleeping.

We moved their beds into our room. Moved the nightstands out into the playroom and arranged our furniture so that we could eventually fit 3 beds into our room.

It also helped when we decided it was time for them to leave the room. We moved their beds to the other side of the room and they slept like that for a few years, then when it was time for them to be in their own room it was fairly easy. They are teenagers now, and they were in our room for about 7 or 8 years.

My baby never woke up my 2 year old. What we did is we all slept in the same bed for 6 months then moved 2 year old to a twin bed next to my bed. Everyone stayed happy it worked great. I didn't want my 2year old to ever think things changed becuase of the new person in the house that was changing so much already. Our place of sleep always has to feel safe and happy for good sleep.

Good luck getting #1 out of your bed before baby gets here! We were in your same boat, a few months ago, and it didn't happen. We had both boys in our bed for a few months and thank goodness, the new baby loves his crib and has been sleeping in it for about a month now. We are still trying to get the 3yo out of our bed, so now we are bribing him with going to an ammusement park. Bribery worked with potty taining. :)

I have to admit though, the times when he is in his own bed, we do miss him, he's very snuggly. We really enjoy co-sleeping and if we had a gigantic bed, we would all sleep in the same bed!

As far as the baby waking up the toddler, our 3yo didn't wake up much when the baby cried and when he did wake up, since he was in our bed, one of us would just cuddle him right back to sleep.

We also decided to have the boys share a room hopeing our 3yo would be excited about having his baby brother in his room, in hopes that, that would get him in his own bed. Our son is too smart and that isn't working either, sigh... I think the ammusement park bribe is going to work though, since that is all he was talking about yesterday. :)

Someone gave me some good advice to put a TV and DVD player in his room, so he can lay in bed and watch a movie as he falls asleep(that's all he can watch on this TV) and that does keep him in there throughout the movie, but he comes into our room when it's over. I'm wondering, if we would have done this when he was two, if he would have just drifted off to sleep better. Good luck to you, whatever you decide!

We just introduced a toddler bed to my daughter (who has co-slept since she was about two months old and will turn two tomorrow) last month. She has been real excited about "my bed" and I nurse her to sleep in it each night and then leave and go back to my room (just across the hall). More nights than not, she will wake up around three or four in the morning and walk into my room and crawl into bed for the last few hours of the night. One night last week, she acutally slept all night . . . so I am thinking it may be going into that direction. You could try a toddler bed for him, and see if it works at all. If it is not working, some of the other Moms left great suggestions about putting beds/mattresses in your room or even ways to co-sleep with two. I think in the end, your instinct will tell you what is working or not!

I would suggest making changes before the baby gets here....I just had my third and moved my daughter (the middle child) to a toddler bed about 3 months before the baby was born and that was perfect for us. It took her about a month and a half to get use to being in a toddler bed...we also switched her and her brothers rooms, so she had to get use to that as well. I have never co-slept with my children so I am not sure how it works or how long it takes a child to get use to sleeping in their own room when they are use to sleeping with you. I just didn't want her to think that because there was a new baby that she was getting moved around and her crib was taken away and bedroom as well. Good luck and it might be hard at first, but it will get better!

My son was in our bed when his brother was born (#1 was 2 days short of his 2nd birthday when his brother was born). I put a futon with special sheets in our room and told my son it was his bed when he was ready. We'd read in it and off and on he'd want to go to sleep in it, but ended up in our bed at some point.

When my second son was born, my older son switched on his own to wanting his own bed. It is now 8 months later and 99% of the time he wants to go to bed in his own bed. Some nights he wakes up and my hubby climbs in with him, some nights he climbs in and the 4 of us sleep together...unless he is sick, he usually makes it til 4am or so.

We lucked out because #2 was a great sleeper and didn't cry much, but even when he did, it never woke his older brother up.

Sleeping in the same room has worked out for us...I didn't think I could get him comfortable in his own bed and his own room by the time the baby came and I didn't want him to resent the baby or have a bigger transition than necessary.

I wish you luck...I know there wasn't much advice there, but just wanted to share that I think it will work itself out on it's own without too much stress!

Good luck and congrats mama!

You may want to have your husband sleep with the 2 year old and you sleep with the newborn until the newborn's sleep habits are longer and more established.

With my first child, he slept in our queen sized bed until we purchased a king when he was two. Of course we had to buy new sheets and though they we washed them before sleeping in them, they felt different. He didn't like the feel of the new sheets and threw a fit. We told him he could go to his own bed, which amazingly enough, he did.

With my second, he always slept better in his crib as a baby and we tried putting him in our bed since it worked with the first. In fact, he sleeps in our bed more as a 7 year old than when he was first born.

We now have a ten month old and it is a challenge when the seven year old comes to bed. I am extremely fearful of him rolling over on her so I either take her to her crib or ask him to go back to his bed. I considered buying one of those baby beds that go in your own bed to prevent suffocation. I wish I knew what they were called. Do you know what I mean?

I think if you give yourself many options and are open to moving people around you will be fine. We have always been fine with our kids sleeping with us but realize we need to 'read' what is best for them.

Good luck.

Could you put 2 beds together so husband and 2 year old could be in one and you and the baby in the other, but you would still all be together in a way as well? If you want to move the toddler, there probably will be a few tears, but that does not mean you have to CIO, you can comfort him and help him feel independent in his new bed, I am assuming that is a skill you will want him to learn eventually anyway.

I would worry about cosleeping with 2, but I never co slept! other than on occassion, so don't take my word for it. However, I think I would try to move the toddler out of my bed to make way for the baby. The key is to do it where he doesn't feel like he's getting the boot! Involve him in the bed process, picking the bed, picking the sheets and room decor if possible. Then, start with naps. Do you co sleep with him for his naps? Try to start there first and have him sleep in his special bed for naps. Once that is going well, try at night. Just tell him how this is his own special bed and he's getting bigger now and he's ready for it. Spend time snuggling in his bed before he goes to bed, read a story, etc. If necessary, start by holding his hand or rubbing his back for a few minutes before you leave. If you truly don't want him to cry at all, it may never work. It is a change, after all, but you should be able to do it with just a little crying. When my 1st 2 were little, I would tell them "I'll come back and check on you in 5 minutes" and I did. I think that made them feel secure. I would go back in the room and if they were really awake, rub backs for a minute and tell them how proud I am that they stayed in bed, etc. Then I'd leave and say "I'll be back in 10 minutes to check on you" and just keep extending the time. Eventually they fell asleep. I did this as I transitioned my oldest to a new bed so I could have the crib for the new baby. She was about 18months when she got in her "big girl bed" and she was in there for five months before the baby was born. I hope this helps!

At first your toddler won't be used to it and will wake up every time the baby wakes up. After about a month he will sleep like a log and he will sleep right through. When the baby wakes up just go into the nursery (his room if he has one) and feed, change, burp, rock whatever until you are ready to go back and join the family in bed.

When are you due? That may impact whether or not you should attempt to transition your older son to a toddler bed or try an alternative arrangement. If your due date is several months away, you may wish to try a toddler bed (if that's an acceptable solution for your family) but if you are due in a month then your toddler might feel as if he's been kicked out to make room for the baby.

We do not co-sleep in our house but, for what it is worth, both of my kids were colicky and cried a bunch. When the newborn would scream his full head off, be it in the house, in the car, whatever, my older son rarely woke. Basically what I'm saying is that even though all four of you are in the bed together, it might be a non-issue for the older child as he might just sleep through it.

My dd started sleeping through the night when my ds was born (she was 4 and had always been a terrible sleeper.) It's like she had to fight for it, so she did. If you cosleep with two, just make sure you are the only person next to the new baby. I reccommend a co-sleeping attachment to your bed.

My cousin would lay down in the bed with her son until he fell asleep every night. She did this for many years until he was ready to go to bed by himself. He grew to be a lovely young man, has graduated college, and is now living on his own. It worked for them!!!