Anyone any experience with a newborn and toddler co sleeping etc?

[SJS1987]

Hey, just wondering if anyone can help. I currently have a just turned one year old and I am 25 weeks pregnant. I also have a 6 and 9 year old but they are not the issue! My one year old little girl has never slept in a cot, we had a snuzpod when she was newborn but eventually ended up co sleeping as she would only settle close to me on the breast. I have been trying for the past few weeks to get her into a cot next to my bed as I am panicking about how I am going to manage when the new baby is here. My husband now sleeps in a separate room 😂. It was going well but now has gone backwards where I can't even get her to sleep in the cot at all. I can transfer but she wakes shortly after wards. I am just not sure how I am going to manage her and the new babies sleep arrangements. Anybody anywhere experience with this sort of situation?

Can your DH cosleep with the toddler? To cosleep safely with the baby you will need to lay on your side facing the baby so your back would be towards the toddler. I imagine the toddler would not be happy with that situation.

I’ve been in bed with new born and 3 year old recently and my 3 year old wanted cuddles and rocking so I had i to face my big girl. I was paranoid the whole time and kept checking on the baby. There is no way i could sleep with the both.

I could keep baby in snuz pod next to the bed and try not to create this same problem for the future 😩. We are in the process of moving house so toddler can have her own room so maybe my DH will have to sleep with her.

I have a next to me and baby won’t go in it. It’s normal for babies to need cuddles. The best thing we did with our older girl was to get a small double as her big girl bed so we could sleep with her. All my friends with two children got Daddy to sleep in the older child’s room for the first few months.

I’m the early days older ds slept in the spare room with dh. Now we are all packed in to one small double like sardines!

It’s very normal in the global co sleeping world for older children and Dad to bed share whilst the baby is vulnerable and newborn.

I co sleep with my 3 year old and my new born. We've go a double bed with an ikea Gulliver cot without the side attached one one side and a bed rail on the other side so toddler doesn't fall out. New born is 5 weeks and so far it's worked well. We wanted to move to a bigger place but it didn't happen before baby came. Husband sleeps in the living room. Only once was baby fussy so me and baby moved to living room and husband spent that night with toddler.

It's no problem to co-sleep with both, but make sure that you are in between them. A baby should not sleep next to a small child. While adults and older children are aware of their surroundings even when sleeping (which is why we don't fall out of the bed), a toddler is not and there would be serious risk of your toddler rolling over your baby.

I chucked hubby out to share my bed with newborn baby and 3 year old toddler. Then toddler moved into spare double bed with hubby as a transition to her sleeping alone (she stayed in the double bed to begin with). I think it’s nice to keep your wee one not feeling pushed out by the new arrival.

Super king bed, no pillows on your side and have it -edge- dh- dc1- you- dc2- bed guard/ co sleeper cot- edge (you and dh will feel squished sometimes and dc will stretch out happily :-) )

Probably not your thing but i would embark on gentle sleep training with the eldest and do some gradual retreat so she’s sleeping independently by the time baby is born. I think you’ll be on your knees otherwise

In this case, I would encourage your dh to take over nights with your older one, so you can then focus on baby (and getting decent sleep in the latter weeks of pregnancy). There is really no excuse for running away to another room and leaving you with two children to deal with (which will be pretty much impossible).

When we had our 2nd, dh took over all nights and mornings with our older one. We weren't still co-sleeping then (we co-slept for 3.5 years with her, but she was 5 when her brother was born). But he did everything else, bedtime, night wakings, mornings with her so we weren't disturbed. Can your older one start transitioning to sleeping in another room with your dh? Perhaps after a period of you all sleeping together? Or it may be a matter of moving her to sleep in her own room alone, but dh taking over the nighttimes so you can focus on baby.