Those who co-slept - when did your DC sleep through the night?

[5DollarShake]

...and was it in your bed?

I didn't co-sleep with DS. He slept in a moses basket rig next to my side of the bed, moved into his own room right next door to ours at about 5 months and slept through at about 7 months. Probably about an average age to do so, I'd say.

With DD, we have a similar arrangement - she is in the moses basket next to me, but once she starts waking from about 4am for feeds, I'm brining her into the bed to feed and letting her fall asleep there.

However, pretty much without exception, whenever I read about people co-sleeping, they go on to say at their DC was still in the bed at 2, 3 even 5 years old.

Call me heartless, but I do not want this!

So - I was just wondering if many people had successfully managed it during the newborn/early baby stage, and then transitioned to a Moses basket or cot, or do you pretty much inevitably just continue to co-sleep into infinity?!

Sorry for all the typos!

Both of mine co-slept to start with, then moved into a moses basket at around 4 months and out into the cot at 6 months. Sometimes they were in the moses basket before that, eg if DP had been drinking, but it was always a much more disturbed night.

I have no idea if they were sleeping through in our bed because I didn't wake up when they needed feeding- I just automatically gave them a boob. They were both sleeping through by the time they were in their own rooms.

They are 10m and 3.5y now and I'd say I am up to each one about the same amount- not very often- I maybe have an interrupted night once a week or so.

DD2 is a bit of a nightmare to get to sleep in the first place, but I think that is just her rather than the co-sleeping.

We did the opposite to butterpie, slept in Moses basket until about 4 months then never managed transition to cot so co-slept and still doing it at 2 years 2 months - we made a positive decision to carry on at 8 months as it was working so well for us, got rid of bed and put mattresses on floor, then sold cot so no looking back...Like butterpie though, no idea if he sleeps through as I often don't wake, that's what has made me decide to carry on co-sleeping, can't cope with the idea of having to go back to getting up in the night :). Sleeping through just seems a lot less important than in did in the early days when it meant an interrupted night for me.

I'm the person you don't want to hear

She first slept through at 4 yrs and 1 mth.

The first time. Ever.

See, I wake up to feed her a). Because I have to wear a nursing bra or top to bed with breast pads or else the bed gets drenched, and b). To switch her from my right side, feeding from my right breast to the left side, feeding from my left breast.

How do people feed from both sides without waking?

I sleep topless but have a doubled up towel under me for leakage

DD is always in the middle of the bed - I roll back a bit to feed from the bottom breast and forward a bit to feed from the top. It took a lot of practice (but no more than learning to feed lying down) and at 4 months I had it sorted.

Co-slept with DS until nearly 1 year, then slowly moved him into a cot. He slept through at 2 years.

Didn't co-sleep with DD (our first). She was in her own room from a relatively early age. She first slept through at 19 months.

With DD1 i did pretty much what you do now - she started off the night in her moses basket then came in with me when she woke up. Gradually she started sleeping longer during that first nightime period - i.e at first she was coming in with me at 2am, then stretched it til 4am, until eventually she slept through from 11-7 in her moses basket by around 5-6 months.

I'm trying to do the same with DD2 but she's not being quite as cooperative - last night she was asleep in her moses basket at 11pm, then in my bed by 12.30, where she stayed all night

We had DD in moses basket for first 6 weeks then a cot attached to the side of our bed with its side off. More often than not DD was actually in bed with us if I'd fed her then fallen back asleep, otherwise I rolled her back into her cot and kept a hand on her. We moved her into her own room and cot when she was 10 months which conincided with me stopping BF her and by 12 months she was sleeping 7-6 ish most nights unless she was ill or something and then would sleep in bed with me.

She is now 2.5 and since we've potty trained her and put her in big bed she does fairly frequently wander along and get into bed with us in the early hours. If she doesn't settle and keeps wriggling, we'll put her back in her bed, but lots of times she settles down and we all go back to sleep. It's quite nice to have the cuddle TBH.

The only issue with it is I am now pg again and we're running out of room in our bed.

To move the baby, I kind of hug her to myself and roll over. She is on different sides when I wake up, so I must do it in my sleep. I always know where she is though, at least when exclusively bf.

Now she is 10m, if she cosleeps she just helps herself anyway- she crawls to the other boob when one is finished. She does sometimes try to throw herself off the bed these days though. She hasn't yet managed it though, so I must still know where she is, I just keep waking up and grabbing her before I even know I'm doing it.

Tis very odd.

BTW, I remember all snuggling into my parents bed sometimes, and this was with both my sisters so I must have been at least 8. I remember my baby sister used to wrap herself around people's heads. As my mum puts it- we are all in our own beds now (at 17, 23 and 25)(obviously apart from me as I now share with DH and ometimes the DDs) so it can't have done any harm. She has the same philosophy with much of parenting tbh. i often feel like going to see her sucking a dummy just to see what she does. Probably nothing, tbh :)

My ds is 13 months old and slept for the first time through the night 2 nights ago amazingly we tried him in a baby sleeping bag and it worked!

We co-slept until 3 weeks ago when we decided enough was enough, he wasnt settling in bed with us and seemed to fuss around all night. We are all getting a better sleep with him in his own room (wish i could have done it sooner!!)

I am still feeding him but he no longer wants it in the night so i know it was just for comfort before.

Jasper is a co-sleeping boy, he sleeps from 8 - 3am most nights, sometimes wakes at midnight for a quick feed but generally he is down for at least six hours in a solid lump before feeding and then going back down until around 6/7am

he is nine weeks old.

We did unintentional co sleeping with DS - as in whenever I found it all too much he'd come into our bed, up until about 18 months ish. I think he was still hvaing one feed a night when I got pg when he was 19m but he spent the majority of nights in his bed. By the time DD was born he was sleeping through most nights. DD set that back a bit, but she's a year now, and he's coming up 3 1/2 and we are back to normal.

we are like nesomja in that my little girl slept in her moses basket until about 4 months when she suddenly started waking 2-3 times every night to feed and I just took her in with us because I was exhausted and it was easier.

At 8 months she suddenly started sleeping through and it coindcided with her being able to roll on to her tummy. within a couple of days of that she was sleeping through.

then about a month or so ago she suddenly started waking around 3 every night and having a feed then going back to sleep till 7 ish. I just roll with whatever she is doing! I have never found that what she eats during the day has much impact on her sleeping.

Sleeping through and sleeping in own beds are not the same thing, though.

I stopped cosleeping with DS2 at around a year, because it stopped working for us. I was getting less sleep, not more, he was getting less sleep not more, so in his own bed he went (and he was fine with it). I'm still waiting for him to sleep through; he's 20 months now.

He doesn't always need a feed to go back of to sleep now, though, so DH gets a few more turns

He climbs over me! I do feel a bit like a midnight climbing frame sometimes...

I co-slept with all three of mine.
DS1 - we tried him in a cot at about 6 months but he hated it and ended up back in with us every night until about eighteen months when we gave up on the cot and let him sleep on a matress on the floor and has been fine ever since.
DS2 - Moved into own room at about 8 months, but usually ended back with us until I went cold turkey on the nightfeeds at about I3 months. Generally ok after that although would come in with us occasionally if he woke up in the night until DS3 was born.
DS3 - Moved into own room at I3 months and wish I'd done it sooner as he slept so much better. He still comes in with us if he wakes, but that's becoming quite unusual.

Currently co-sleeping with DS, he is 5 months. Interesting and reassuring to read those still giving night feeds. DS sleeps in crook of my arm from 10pm til 7am, with 2-3 awakenings for feeds. (Was told they shouldn't need to night feed by 6 months?).

Co-sleeping has worked so well for us with breastfeeding, but we feel it is the right time for all of us to begin the transition to cot. Still confused about best way to approach this..but I guess that's another topic!

I think it's down to what works for you and your child. My DS has been in his own room and cot from the start. However he just wouldn't sleep. I ended up walking him to sleep in his pram. Eve sitting next to him getting him to suck my pinky etc. He'd wake up at night and we'd let him scream (for over an hour!) before going to him, just so he'd learn to fall asleep himself. It never worked. We got exhausted, so sat with him till he slept. Did this for the first 2 years. Then at 2.5 he started climbing (and falling out) to come to us. Got him a bigger bed. Now he could come at night on his own and would. Followed all the advice, but it never worked. When he turned 3 we gave up. He has slept with us every single night from age 3-5 and we were all soooo much happier. Getting all the sleep we needed. Then it felt a bit too intrusive suddenly, so we made a big fuss: big boy, big new bed etc. And withing a week he is used to sleeping in his very own new big bed, all night. One of the other things that really worked was to get him to wear socks in bed, maybe it was cold feet from the start?? Who knows. Just trying to say, you have to find what works for you AND your child. Hope it will work out.

Co-slept with both until about 9/10months old. They didn't sleep through the night until we moved them into their own rooms at that age. Previous to this ds2 in particular was wanting up to 5 bf's a night!