Help me with this sleep situation that I have created!

[barnowl222]

Dd is 2 in February. And she still sleeps in our bedroom, albeit in her own cot next to our bed.

I did try moving her into her own room at the suggested 6 months but she didn't settle and woke up very distressed in the night. I probably should have persevered but I didn't. She goes down well but has always woken up a lot in the night, sometimes a simple shhhh will get her off back to sleep, other times I pick her up and put her in bed with us. Either way it's quicker and easier to deal with when she's in a cot next to me.

But obviously this can't go on forever and she's getting to the stage where she will outgrow the cot soon. We won't be able to fit a toddler bed in our room so we'll have no choice but to move her into her own room then but I'm so worried about how she'll take to it. Any advice much appreciated. I feel guilty for letting this go on for so long but I did whatever it took to get some sleep!

get the toddler bed installed in her room. Let her play there / pretend to sleep. does she nap in the day? maybe she can nap in the toddler bed.

get story books about sleeping in a big bed - "the magic bed" is good. and others.

talk about moving to the big bed like a big girl. And then move her over and stick to it.

Thank you. I'm just wondering what will happen when she inevitably wakes in the night crying. She does this already in our room and I either shush her or pop her in bed with us. If she's in her own room she's likely to wake other dc with the 2am theatrics and I'll probably end up bringing her back in with us anyway. My other dc were good sleepers and all in their own rooms pretty early, never co slept unless unwell so I'm not used to this.

My son was in his cot next to my bed (with one side down) until he was 2.5yr, then went into his own room absolutely fine

my daughter is almost 2 and still in bed with me. I too have done the same as you to get the most sleep possible!

im not worried as hopefully she’ll go into her room easily like my son did

Can I ask how you did it? Like did you just literally move them one night and it was as easy as that? I feel like dd won't react well at all. She may go down ok but it'll be when she wakes in the night and realises she's somewhere else.

Having said that she may not wake as often if she's in a room on her own and not listening to me fidget and her dad snore.

could you try her in her own room with a bed big enough that you or her dad could sleep in it too if needed? I have a king size floor bed in my DCs room and I sleep in there with my eldest who will be 4 soon and my youngest who is 17mo. potentially you could get her to sleep in there, then go in at first wake and hopefully she will gradually sleep longer?

The answer is to put her in there and go through the pain of putting her back every time she gets up.

the reality, especially if you’re worried about noise is that she’ll wake and you’ll bring her into your bed so that she’ll go back to sleep and stop making noise.

you know how to fix it but the relatively short term pain is usually too painful!!

she will grow out of it, at some point

My son is almost 2 and we moved him to his room at 5 months. He still does occasionally cry at night, it tends to be a few nights in a row and then it will stop. Obviously we used to go check on him when he was younger but now he self settle very quickly (2-3 mins most of the time), going in his room would actually wake him up fully and make things worse.
We do have the camera so we can check what's happening if it last longer.

We try to make his cot as familiar and comfortable as possible. He has his comforter, some soft toys, 1-2 toys that he picks in the evening like a little car, and a nice lamp he can turn on himself (it's the Tomme Tippee penguin, I really recommend it).