Co sleepers, what do you do before you go to bed

[basilflower]

For those of you who co sleep, what do you do before you go to bed? DS will sometimes settle in his cot for a bit first, but frequently wakes after 30 mins and will then only settle in bed next to me. Do you just go to bed then (sometimes 7pm!) or do you have any other methods? I've been just getting an early night, but it would be nice to stay up a little bit later just sometimes,especially as co sleeping is now starting to give me back ache!

How old is your DS? I used to let mine sleep on me on the sofa while I watched TV in the evening, until they were about 7-8 months old, then I started settling them in the cot. It took a little while (from a week or so for DC1 to a month or so for DC3) to get that routine established, but then they slept there for about 3 hours, and would come in with me when they woke up.

All of them in their own beds now. they finally made the transition at around 3yo each,

We sleep on a mattress on the floor and have done since he was big enough to climb out of the three sided cot we hacked and tied onto the bed frame (about a year ago, he's 21mo now). That's the only place he sleeps, so I feed him to sleep there and leave when he's asleep. There's a bed bumper to stop him rolling out but he didn't move much in his sleep. Only way for me to get a semi-decent sleep (which is still pretty broken but better than resettling him in a cot).

He's 7 months now, has a pretty regular bedtime routine, and goes into his cot, he just doesn't want to stay there for longer than sometimes 30 mins, sometimes longer. I guess as each period of sleep increases in length that 30 mins might one day turn into 3 hours (wishful thinking?!)

I like the sound of the mattress on the floor, it definitely seems easier to settle him lying down, so this would help.

Thanks for sharing what you do, it's interesting!

I put DS into my bed at 7pm then go downstairs to do my own thing. I will have to go back up at some point to resettle him when he wakes up.

Dd is 9 months and for the last 3 I've fed her to sleep and put her in her cot ( attached to our bed like brackla) and resettled her as required until I go to bed. Sometimes 30 minutes later sometimes 2 hours, I long for the day she sleeps through and stays in her actual cot.