2 YO BF co-sleeping toddler - I want to scream!

[bonkers20]

I've co-slept and it's saved my life I think. It's lovely to start with, it's been lovely most of the time in fact. I settle DS in his cot at bed time and he joins me in bed when he wakes. Then he BF and goes back to sleep...da da.

I haven't minded frequent wakings, I'd say 90% of the time I couldn't tell you what time he woke as I barely stir myself.

Now though, at 2 YO it's a different beast - he wriggles, he thrashes, he throws an arm over me in the wee hours, he 1/2 wakes up asking for milk. So, I put him back in his cot. Sometimes he'll go back to sleep soundly, other times he'll start moaning so I'll bring him back in with me. And so it goes on. Sometimes I talk sternly to him and he'll hush up and go to sleep, but not always. Just stomped downstairs right now as he's been restless for an hour and I'm FED UP.

His cot is in the main bedroom because we have a 2 bed house and 2 children (the older DS is 12 and really doesn't want his 2 YO bro in there).

With other DS he just naturally slept through as his first waking became later and later, but I'm starting to lose hope with this one.

If you want him in his own cot, you just have to do it. Put him in there, and make sure he knows that that is where he stays.

It will be hard for a few days, but by getting him out & putting him in your bed, you are confusing him. You need to ignore his whinging & be strong!

You make it sound so simple and of course in the day this of course seems obvious.
It's the "hard for a few days" but that I really struggle with. I start to get really impatient after a few minutes.

You need to find your patience if you want it to work, I am afraid!

There is no quick fix.

I had similar with dd2 when she went into a bed, completely forced on us as she was a climber & was getting out of her cot at 18mths. It took a couple of weeks to get her to stay in her bed & I found it incredibly hard to be patient!