Co sleeping parents- do you have the same bedtime as your DC?

[RoseGoldEagle]

My DD is nearly 1, I never planned on co-sleeping, but it was the only way we could all get a reasonable amount of sleep in the early months. I kept thinking- 'I should probably stop doing this and transition her to her own cot'', but then night time would come, and co sleeping was always the much easier option, it's incredibly rare for her even to cry at night because she can basically wake, latch on and feed briefly, and fall asleep within minutes, and I barely wake up and go back to sleep easily too.

The main issue I have with it though is the time we go to bed- as I have to go to bed at the same time as her (as I feed her to sleep in our bed- she would then stay asleep for a few hours even if I wasn't there I think, but obviously I can't leave her as she'd fall out of bed.).

If she stays up with us until we go to bed, I feel bad that her bedtime is later than it should be, and of course we don't really get an evening that way anyway, or not one to ourselves. But if go to bed with her at 8ish, I don't get an evening at all!

Just wondering what other co-sleeping parents do- do you put them in a cot for the first bit?( have tried this but she wakes up after 10-15 mins- I'm worried she's been spoilt by our ridiculously comfortable mattress and doesn't like the cot one!!) or I thought about bars for the bed, but read that they weren't safe. I even researched giant cots at one point that we could both sleep in and I could climb out of and leave her safely, suffice to say they do not make these!!! 😂 I feel sad to have to stop co-sleeping for this reason, but maybe it's something I need to think about. Any advice/experiences very welcome, thank you.

I had a bedside cot, and then when I started 'properly' co-sleeping I put our mattress on the floor. If that hadn't been an option I would have considered a good barrier, but safety would be a priority and it would need research.

The mattress on the floor was awesome though. I really liked it, and I loved not having to worry about DD falling off (not just at night time, but in the day time while playing on/around it as a young toddler).

I also find it embarrassing at other people's houses (my family live a fair distance away, and we stay at friends reasonably often), because where they are putting any little ones down and ready to start their evening, we still have DD downstairs until we go to bed which must be really annoying for them

Please don't be embarrassed. it would seem sad to me to only start your evening once your child has been put to bed. You're doing what's best for your family and that's something to be proud of. Every parent does things their own way; you never know, one of your friends may be envious of you being able to breastfeed for how long you have. Try not to compare yourself to others.