Best to address sleep issues BEFORE dc2 arrives?

[Misty9]

I'm 36wks pregnant and ds is 2.6. He slept brilliantly, including self settling, until 22mo when we took the sides off his cotbed (various reasons) when we started having to stay in his room until he was asleep.

Fast forward 8 months, and we're still in his room until he falls asleep. And he frequently wakes at night and comes into our room. Dh (who is doing bedtime and night wakings for now, as I can't sit on the floor easily) was doing rapid return successfully, but after 2-3 goes he often ends up bringing ds in with us.

All of which we have wrestled with over the months and came to the conclusion that the short term pain to get him to stay in bed and fall asleep alone was not worth it for us, for now.

But, my brother raised the very good point that, if we end up addressing these issues out of desperation/sleep deprivation when his sister arrives, then he may well tie the two together and resent her...

We've never done CIO and don't really leave him to cry if it can be helped. Dh is a softie where ds is concerned and is resistant to things like stair gates on doors... every now and again I lost patience with the situation and would try to do gradual withdrawal, ending in my lost temper and hysterical ds

So, do we go through hell for a week or so address these things now? Or is it even too close to the new baby being here now?

[PinkFondantFancy]

I'd get the biggest bed you can fit in your room and just go with it.

[Misty9]

Hehe pink that's the precise reason we have a superking

[PinkFondantFancy]

Same :D superking plus a sidecar cot and everyone will be just fine, honest.

[Misty9]

And we have a sidecar cheap kiddicare cot might have to draw the line at this next one sleeping on dh's chest like ds did for the first 10wks though...

[Misty9]

Anyone else? Ds slept through last night with just one hiccup where he came into our room but I took him back to bed and left straight away (dh was downstairs still).

[ningthemerciless]

I'm in the same position as you - DS is 3.5 and I'm 25 weeks and I'm thinking about how to address this. Mines will go to his bed no probs, have to sit with him for a half hour or so until he falls asleep but that's fine by us for now.

But, he will always wake up sometime during the night (usually around 3/4am) and come into our bed. It's fine then, I wake up enough to cuddle him in and we both (all) fall asleep then. The most annoying bit is when he wakes in the morning cos he'll just starfish, push me with his feet and (most annoyingly) stick his feet in my pajamas.

I just don't know whether to push it and address it now while I still have a bit of time or let it be and accept co-sleeping for all of us. New baby will be in a sidecar cot anyway and so out the way. I'm not an advocate of toddler training of any sort (I'm a great big hippy me) so I can't quite bring myself to MAKE him do it. But just one whole night in my bed alone (well with DH) would be lovely. I'm ever hopeful it will just resolve itself - maybe the new baby will cry so much he doesn't want to be in with us?

Sorry this is probably not helping in the slightest! Just sorta wanted to say I'm in the same position and so feel your pain.