Like many of you on here I was nervous how cosleeping with my toddler (2.5 F) would go after bringing home a newborn. Here is how it all unfolded.
I knew I was having a scheduled c-section. So I had a little time to talk to my daughter about how mama would have an owie and would have to sleep in another bed when baby brother came home from the doctor. My original plan was to sleep on a twin in the corner of our bedroom with the snoo next to me. That lasted an entire hour before I had my husband pull the twin into the nursery on the floor as my infant was too loud and hated the snoo. I had already bought a wedge pillow to help with C-section recover so I was set to safely chest sleep my first few nights home. My toddler did great sleeping with dad those first few nights. We made sure not to let her see that I was sleeping with baby brother. We just told her I was giving him milk in that room.
I decided to stay in the nursery until my infant became a more predictable sleeper I bought a cheap bed frame and a bedside sleeper bassinet. My infant would spend about 75% of his night in the bedside sleeper and 25% in a cuddle curl with me. My toddler was still doing great with dad.
At some point quality of sleep switched for my husband and me. The infant was sleeping 7-9 hours in a row consistently and the toddler was waking up more and more (she’s never really slept through the night). She started to cry for me and refuse dad in the middle of the night so I knew it was time to move back into the room.
The first night in the bedroom at bedtime my daughter saw my son’s bedside bassinet and asked about it. I told her it was her baby brothers bed. She quickly exclaimed ‘I want my own bed too!’ So rapidly my husband and I pulled the twin mattress into our room and on our floor next to our bed. I grabbed a special pillow I had been saving for this exact moment telling her it was a special pillow for her very own bed. She fell asleep in her bed quickly and easily and stayed in it before crawling into bed with us around 3:00 am. This has continued the last few weeks with one full night in her bed so far. She also has been taking her naps in it.
I recently bought a full mattress for the nursery. This will be our back up sleeping situation if one of the kids gets really sick and needs to sleep separate. Comically my husband has slept on it these last few nights because he is horribly sick (small head cold haha).
Honestly this all went easier than expected. There are a few nights where my toddler wakes up my infant. There was one incident where I was nursing and my toddler just really needed to cuddle but all in all I am happy with how this journey turned out. Life is pretty damn great. We will see how we handle the four month sleep regression.
I knew I was having a scheduled c-section. So I had a little time to talk to my daughter about how mama would have an owie and would have to sleep in another bed when baby brother came home from the doctor. My original plan was to sleep on a twin in the corner of our bedroom with the snoo next to me. That lasted an entire hour before I had my husband pull the twin into the nursery on the floor as my infant was too loud and hated the snoo. I had already bought a wedge pillow to help with C-section recover so I was set to safely chest sleep my first few nights home. My toddler did great sleeping with dad those first few nights. We made sure not to let her see that I was sleeping with baby brother. We just told her I was giving him milk in that room.
I decided to stay in the nursery until my infant became a more predictable sleeper I bought a cheap bed frame and a bedside sleeper bassinet. My infant would spend about 75% of his night in the bedside sleeper and 25% in a cuddle curl with me. My toddler was still doing great with dad.
At some point quality of sleep switched for my husband and me. The infant was sleeping 7-9 hours in a row consistently and the toddler was waking up more and more (she’s never really slept through the night). She started to cry for me and refuse dad in the middle of the night so I knew it was time to move back into the room.
The first night in the bedroom at bedtime my daughter saw my son’s bedside bassinet and asked about it. I told her it was her baby brothers bed. She quickly exclaimed ‘I want my own bed too!’ So rapidly my husband and I pulled the twin mattress into our room and on our floor next to our bed. I grabbed a special pillow I had been saving for this exact moment telling her it was a special pillow for her very own bed. She fell asleep in her bed quickly and easily and stayed in it before crawling into bed with us around 3:00 am. This has continued the last few weeks with one full night in her bed so far. She also has been taking her naps in it.
I recently bought a full mattress for the nursery. This will be our back up sleeping situation if one of the kids gets really sick and needs to sleep separate. Comically my husband has slept on it these last few nights because he is horribly sick (small head cold haha).
Honestly this all went easier than expected. There are a few nights where my toddler wakes up my infant. There was one incident where I was nursing and my toddler just really needed to cuddle but all in all I am happy with how this journey turned out. Life is pretty damn great. We will see how we handle the four month sleep regression.
