carry on co sleeping

[GEM33]

dd 7.5 months old has been in a co sleeper bed most of her life.
she is now too big for it.
we tried putting her cot next to the bed but i cant lift her in and out easily to do the mulitiple feedings in the night (im not going into that issue, i have given up hope of ever sleeping through the night after trying most things).
we havent got a drop down side one and i cant take the side off because i need the cot top changer.
dh is eager to get dd into her own bed and her own room. im not so eager.
i dont want to move her further away until she bloody sleeps more at night as im sure you all know the next room can feel miles away when you are up and down all night.
i feel if i put her actually in bed with us, its a step backwards but then i cant cope with all the night wakings when she is further away.

what age did you co sleep to?
is it a step back to put her in bed with us, will i be making more problems for myself by not trying to get her in to her cot now.
can you successfully co sleep with a child until they WANT to go in their own bed? (we have got a superking size bed but it seems small when dd is spread eagled in it).
will my dd end up being a spoiled brat because she sleeps with us (i ask this because i feel the raised eyebrows from family members when i say she is still in our room/co sleeping).
thanks for you time for reading.

I don't think I am the best person to answer with 2 very poor sleepers, but...

Dd1, now 4-started co sleeping when she was 9mths when I went back to work, as you say it is the only way to cope with night feeds and she started "reverse cycling" so there were many! At around 14mths she moved to her own room and own cot- hellish! I was up and down all night, often sleeping on the floor next to her cot to get her to settle. We moved house when she was 2.5, went into a proper bed and slept through on the first bloody night, then more or less ever since!

So when dd2 came along I was determined NOT to move her out until she was sleeping reliably, and now I still have a 15mth old in my bed every night! Not 100% happy with that, but if the alternative is doing what I did with her sister, it ain't happening!

Am currently pondering my next move, but for now she is in here (starts the night in her cot, wakes approx 1000 times from 7-11ish at which point I give up, go to bed and take her in with me)

Mmm did that even answer your question?! I know friends who have co slept, some with more than 1 dc, up till around age 5!

hi caz, ;-) its good to hear from other people who havent got great sleepers and how they get through it. yeah mine wakes about 1000 times too!!
god, you had to wait til 2/5 to get a full nights sleep out of dd1?! oh dear, i see me waiting that long as well ;-( mine is a complete boob monster and finds it so hard to sleep without it. i predict many problems when i return to work which is why i cant see us ever not co sleeping.
its ok for my dh to say he wants her in her own room, he doesnt have to stagger around getting his knockers out at night!!

17 month old DS still in bed with me and DP every night. Like you say it's the only way to cope with multiple wakings for boob. We've only got a double bed, DS is tall and has a tendency to sleep at all angles. It's not much fun but I'm not really sure what to do about it.
Sorry that wasn't very helpful, was it?!

We co-sleep with our 14 month old twins, started when they were around 6/7 months as we were desperate for sleep- they HATE their cots and we don't want to do controlled crying (have tried everything else) so here we are!

We've gone abit further in that we have taken the bed frame down and sleep on mattresses on the floor as they move a lot in sleep their sleep and this way we get our evenings back- we have childproofed room completely and sectioned off with a babydan guard/divider. It works well for us as they're safe and secure at night until we go up to bed. Before DH literally had no time in the evening, was a nightmare.

In the next few months we're planning to introduce toddler beds and hopefully that will work. I must admit to loving having them so close though.

I know a couple of people who have gone for the mattress on the floor approach, it makes sense. Dd settles beautifully on our bed (of course!) but I can't leave her there safely. I actually think I will move her to a single mattress before a toddler/single bed maybe.

Topcuppa when are you thinking of moving them to their beds? 2.5 was far too late for dd1 I now see in hindsight, although it was more logistics than anything at the time, no bed for her to go to!

i could not cope with two in bed with me!!! how do you cope!! ;-)
bET, every post is helpful, even if its just to know we arent alone in this sleep situation.
Ive popped into work today and everyone wants to know when i will be back but i tried to tell them im not getting sleep at night and explained about dd waking every hour. no one seems to understand its not that she isnt tired and its not that she has too much day sleep its just the boob sleep association. no one i know gets what im going through. its only through being on mumsnet that i have realised there are lots of other parents in similar situation as me.
dh and i had a mega big swearing and shouting row the other night all over dd's sleep-lack of and he wants her in the cot and we ve been fiddling round with moving the cot into our room and i cant lift her - shes over 20lb now. we are both shattered (he s got a previous child that doesnt sleep when hes over too!!) its just all got on top of us.
i like to show him the mumsnet evidence that people DO co sleep with their kids until they are older.
(top cuppa - i love having my dd close to me too. i can glance and see she is ok or adjust her covers in the night. very reassuring).

Gem can you take the side off the cot and change her on the floor? Got my 15mo DS in bed with me but he does sometimes roll into his cot for more space

hi curly, yeah, im going to have to do something like that i think. plus, now she is more mobile its prob a good idea to have the changer on the floor anyway like you say.
too many night wakings to move her to her own room yet i think. ;-(
the last few nights she has started rolling on to her side and falling off her side and waking every 10 to 20 minutes. its absolute hell. i was prob awake last night and the few nights before from 1-530. just picking her up and rocking her back and then every 2 hours giving her boob. its bloody ridiculous. if i leave her to cry she stays awake for hours. this is the worst it has ever been. dh and me are bickering loads. im normally v randy but recently that is the last thing i want! i just want sleep ;-(