How to move co-sleeping toddler to her own bed?

[DitaVonCheese]

I'm sure there must be previous threads on this but haven't found much. DD is just over two and currently sleeps in our bed with DH (I moved into the spare room a while ago as it was the only way to nightwean DD and now DD and I disturb each other too much if we try to bedshare :(). I am now pregnant and due in July. Ending up with two DC in our bed wouldn't be a complete disaster but I think it's probably time to start trying to move DD into her own bed.

We moved house in September and she has a brand new big girl's room with toddler bed but it took a while to do, then we were going to start trying to make the move just before Christmas but her settling to sleep went completely haywire. She is now settling/sleeping much better so starting to consider this seriously but no idea how to do it! Any ideas out there?

• HV suggested rewarding her with stickers. Suspect that rewarding with chocolate would work but she would be demanding chocolate every day until the end of time (it was pretty confusing for her once her choc advent calendar ran out).
• Was thinking of doing a photo book showing her bedtime routine, ending up in new bed.
• NCSS wasn't as helpful as I expected but one suggestion was one of us sleeping on the floor of her new room for a bit.
• NCSS also suggested just moving her while she's asleep, but think this might freak her out a bit! At the moment she still wakes a couple of times a night for water/cuddles but I wonder whether this would stop if one of us wasn't there (she generally sleeps from the time we put her to bed until we go to bed, then wakes every few hours).

Any more ideas gratefully received :)

Our DD is 2.5 and was co-sleeping regularly until the new year. She was also waking a few times a night for drinks/cuddles.

I am also pregnant, so we decided enough was enough. We bit the bullet and one night told her very firmly that she had to go to sleep in her own bed. She woke a few times that night and we were firm with her. There were tears, but DH and I stayed firm.

The next night was better...and the night after that she slept through...and has done most nights for the past 3 weeks, in her own bed.

We prevaricated for months over softly-softly tactics and got nowhere. It was when we summoned the courage to be tough that it seems to have stopped.

A friend of mine does stickers with mixed success.

Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear, but if you are ready to stop the co-sleeping, a few nights of upset and it will all be behind you.

Thanks for the reply. I think we'll go with a gentle approach first and see how we get on - tbh I don't think we're that fussed about it atm and not enough to cause upset. If the worst comes to the worst then DD can stay in our bed with DH and I'll go in the spare room with the new baby - might mean DH gets a bit more sleep anyway!

If you're not that bothered about it then fair enough. I was the one doing the co-sleeping so that DH could get uninterrupted sleep, but he was fed up of sleeping elsewhere and with new pregnancy I was fed up of getting woken up and kicked in head/stomach (DD likes to sleep diagonally).

Have already decided that when DC2 arrives I will decamp to the baby's room and we'll put a single bed in there for me to use, rather than have moses basket in our room.

Another decision we've made is to get DD a new bed with a pull-out trundle/truckle bed underneath, so that if she gets ill, one of us can go and co-sleep with her in her room and stop the cycle of bringing her into our room when ill/upset.

Are you sure that your DH is fine with this arrangement? My DH put up with it for a while, but we definitely reached a point over Christmas where he wanted his bed (and his wife!) back!

No advice, but watching thread with interest!

DS1 has recently (last two months) decided he has to sleep with us. We moved house about then and he was very disturbed by his (lovely!) new room and new house noises. At first it was just a matter of him going to sleep in our bed, but then he'd wake hysterical and spend the rest of the night with us. This was ok until DS2 arrived 5 weeks ago! (So yes, I'd definitely advise sorting something out before the new baby!) We bought our new bed with a view to sleep-sharing with DS2, and since DS1 now needs us at night, DH is in the spare room in the old double with DS1, while I'm in the nice new bed with DS2! It's a bit crazy. Nobody sleeps in DS1's bedroom... I miss DH in bed with me.

Am frantically trying to entice DS1 back into his old room (or move his stuff into the spare room) but he likes the current set-up just fine, thanks.

I like the truckle bed suggestion. Hmm...

Good luck Reshape, it isn't the busiest of threads I had vague plans to make a reward chart with DD this afternoon as I am off work but I made the mistake of sharing with her and DH last night and it was HELL - for some reason she and I just disturb each other so we woke up what feels like every 20 minutes through the night to bicker. Ack.

mum295 I did check with DH that he was happy and he definitely is :) (just goes all tits up when you add me to the mix as well!). Though he did say a few weeks ago that we weren't going to co-sleep with DC2 :( but (1) he was tired and angry at the time as it was when DD refused to settle by herself and bed time was taking 2-3 hours and (2) he isn't the one doing the night feeds and if he thinks I'm getting up and going to a different room every couple of hours then he's um wrong.

We've been making a huge fuss of DD every morning when she stays put in her own bed/room. She seems really chuffed by it. We tried a sticker chart for potted training, but she lost interest in it, so don't think that would woke for us.

Dita, good to hear that your DH is fine with things as they are. In our case, DD and DH are incompatible co-sleepers, which is why he ended up being the one kicked out.

Don't know what else to suggest, sorry!

Potty, not potted, obv! Bloody autocorrect!