To all those who co-slept and demand-fed their babies....

[Violetroses]

how/when did you get them sleeping independently at night?

My third DS is 8 months and mostly in our bed and helping himself to milk from 11pm onwards. It's not what I did with the others but there isn't a bedroom for him of his own, and ive not wanted to risk him waking his brothers (2 and 5) or DH.

Will be happy to try controlled crying when I know he's not teething, when his mild reflux is under control and he's eating three good meals a day.

But this could be a while off, and it's so uncomfortable sleeping at the edge of the bed, being slapped in the middle of the night, and having my dreams interrupted by his little pinching fingers...

Would love to hear how others have got through this.

Still doing it at 16mths, probably not what you want to hear! But this is dd2, andlike you don't want to wake dd1, who is a terrible light sleeper/early waker etc. Dd1 we did it at around a year but she still woke several times and we didn't benefit from moving her really, it was just a different sort of disturbance. BUT a friend moved her baby out at 10 mths or so and her sleep instantly improved, so you never know...

I did what youre doing for pretty much the same reasons

He didn't sleep reliably and 'through the night' (God, I loathe that term) until he was about a year

Had to do a bit of CC, but worked really quickly which reassured me he was ready to sleep properly

This probably isn't what you want to hear but we kept dd2 in our bed til she was 18 months, then followed Dr Jay Gordon's night weaning, I think I just googled it. We bought a king sized bed once it was clear we weren't going to get anywhere with trying to get her to sleep in the cot.

(you definitely don't want to hear that she still comes and climbs into bed with us a few nights a week at 2.5)

I got a cot, took a side off. For each feed I slid into heir cot, then out again. When they didn't wake regularly in the night I stuck the side back on. Then a bit later moved the cot.

Oh yes, forgot, did the same with the cot side as Starlight whilst the waking was still frequent

Erm, he's still here at 22 months. I have no idea about how to move him on so will watch this thread with interest...

Lol not sure you want the answer to that

Lol not sure you want the answer to that

Ha ha! I'm doomed never to sleep deeply again!

I did the same as StarlightMcKenzie, but I didn't always manage to put her back--too much oxytocin put me to sleep as well! She kept waking for feeds (1 or 2) until 12/13 months and I gave her water for a few nights until she got fed up and stopped waking.

Ooh, that sounds more hopeful kateemo, thanks.

DD was like this until just after shge was 2. She was improving, and I went away for 2 nights. When I came back she was sleeping through and has done since (with the odd exception, obviously)

After two..but i loved every minute of it and was sad when he went away.
DS is now 15 and I can't get a kiss :(
I miss the cuddles. He is still great though

We had a bedside cot, which was fab for dd, but ds ended up not really in it and was much more annoying to sleep with. Both were in own beds by 2, and actually both went from dire sleepers to sleeping through most nights at that point. DS has just turned 2, is in his own bed in own room, he gets to fall asleep in my arms because if I send him up awake dd and him just play, but he sleeps from between 7 and 9pm (dependent on naps) til 6.08am every morning (which is about an hour earlier than I would like but it was 5am a few months ago) - no idea why I am still up actually.

DS is still here at 2.8 y.o. because all of us sleep better that way. He's a good co-sleeper though, who likes his own space. We have 2 single mattresses on the floor pushed together - he has one and I had the other.

His sleep improved loads at 13 months without me doing anything (from 3-5 wakings to 1 waking a night) though we've had lots of spells since when it's been worse.

We did try stopping co-sleeping at one point (just put him on the other side of the room) but stopped after 2 nights as he started waking every 45 mins instead of every 1.5-3 hours.

I knew it was time to move DD out when I hurt my neck and shoulders and didn't manage to heal for three weeks because I was getting no rest with her in the bed. She was about 9mo and really had gone from needing to be close to me/needing to feed lots in the night, to being there out of habit and not getting anything like the sleep she needed. The other deciding factor was that we had finally moved into a place where she could share the bedroom with DS - we couldn't move her cot beforehand because there was no room, and while it was in our room there was no way she would consent to going in it

Did pick up/put down for several nights to deal with the incessant night wakings, also offered a drink of water (oh the outrage at being offered water!), and she went from waking every couple of hours to habit-feed to waking once at about 3.30am, then started sleeping through till 5am most nights a little while later. She's 13mo now and mostly very good.

I never thought this would happen, btw, because her sleep was so bad for the first year! We are all much happier now.

Sorry, meant to say 'mostly very good at sleeping'. I hate that 'is she good?' thing about babies

DD2 is 14 months and I'd love to know how to get her sleeping through in her cot. No sign of it happening yet...