Bed sharing with toddler... how will it work with newborn?

[Floopyandtired]

First of all, please no judgement about our decision to bed share. We tried for 18 months to get our little boy to sleep in his own cot and he was still waking every hour, so we resorted to bed sharing and he has slept through ever since. I’m now 36 weeks pregnant with baby #2 and I’m wondering if anyone has experience of bed sharing with a toddler whilst also having a toddler in your bed? I have a side sleeper I plan to use for the newborn but I’m worried the toddler will be disturbed by the night feeds, crying baby, etc.

Part of me hopes it might encourage the toddler to actually sleep in his own bed but I’m not hopeful. I envisage us all getting crap sleep to be honest. Any advice or experiences would be appreciated, thank you :)

*bed sharing with a toddler whilst also having a baby in your room.

Could you take a side off a cot bed (one of the railings) and push it up to the other side of the bed so that they have access to the bed but are sleeping separately? That way they are bed sharing without bed sharing. It's what I've done with mine congratulations

Is there another room where dad can sleep with toddler and you sleep with newborn?

Our 2 year old went in with his dad for the first few weeks after my c-section, mainly because I didn’t want him rolling onto my scar.

After that I had newborn on one side and 2 yr old on the other. Massive king size floor bed so nobody could roll out.

2 year old never seemed disturbed by the baby but then he’s always been a heavy sleeper.

My King size bed fits me, a baby and a toddler. You've just got to kick DH out to make room.

I start both of them off in their own beds so I get a good 4 hours of bed to myself. Then I’m sandwiched between them with the 8 month old using me as a dummy.

Another vote for toddler cosleeping with dad in a different room (if space permits) while you share with the baby, even if it’s initially just for the first few weeks while you see what kind of sleeper DC2 is. Good luck with everything x

I managed this, the toddler slept so deeply once asleep that the night feeds didn’t bother her and you hear the baby shuffling before they cry often so there isn’t much noise and disturbance.

I have just exited my 8 year old from the bed, as I’m 34 weeks pregnant and also have a 13 month old in there. DH gave up a while back and is in the spare room and I will go in the middle with baby in a next to me crib and toddler on other side. I’m marginally worried that the 13 month old might be put out by the new one and climb over me in the night and if so he’ll have to go with his dad in spare room. Nights are fun in our house 🙈

I did this for 11 months, DC1 has just decided to sleep in his own bed so that’s why we have stopped.

DH was banished to the spare room. I found it a bit cramped having to sleep between them and on my side in the co sleeping position, and I found us each having our own duvet (single, toddler, sleeping bag for baby) was good because I was worried about the double duvet ending up over the baby. Toddler didn’t wake up during night feeds and he managed to lie in later than everyone else too so he definitely wasn’t getting disturbed sleep!

I feel your pain! We moved my husband and 3 year old into his room (husband on mattress on floor and DS in his new special car shaped bed!) when our newborn came along. I'm co-sleeping with our 6 month old on my own. Next step is getting my husband back in bed with me and DS2. Probably not the best way to solve your problem but only way to keep DS1 happy and didn't want him to feel rejected when the new baby came. I'm trying to enjoy it, they won't want to share rooms with us in a few years I'm sure.

Good luck

Thanks all for the advice, genuinely really appreciate it and we will be trying to shift my other half to the spare room with the toddler 😊