[blparent] co-sleeping with toddler

[Erin Rumer]

Hello parents,

 

I'd love to hear from those of you who chose to co-sleep with your babies.
My son Dawson who will be one years old on Halloween has been co-sleeping
with my husband and I since he was ten months old.  I absolutely love the
co-sleeping arrangement and in many ways wish I had started it earlier.  The
only snag that I'm finding is that Dawson used to be able and go down in his
crib for the first stretch of the night which was a couple of hours and then
by the time he woke-up I'd be ready to go to bed or my husband would just
bring him into me to co-sleep.  Now Dawson doesn't want to do the first
stretch on his own and refuses to go down without me.  I'm an early to bed
person but now not having that few hours on my own is difficult.  How do
those of you with co-sleeping toddlers usually start out your night?  I'm
finding that just letting Dawson play a little longer in my room with the TV
on low helps him start to calm for the night and then around 8:30 we can lay
down together with no stimulation noise or lights on and he'll fall asleep
quickly.  This isn't giving me any time to unwind for the night though.  I'm
still nursing Dawson so daddy putting him down to bed is out of the question
since he needs boob to fall asleep and that's not a battle I want to start
right now especially since breast feeding is so special and something both
Dawson and I love very much.  I'm against cry it out methods and want sleep
time to continue to be a positive and pleasant experience for everyone.

 

Thanks,

 

Erin