Moving baby from parent's bed to own bed at an early age

[Aubergine]

My second child has never slept in a cot - not planned - she simply refused to entertain the idea. However, she is now 9.5 months and is very mobile and able to roll over the pillows at either side of the bed. She hasn't actually fallen out but has been very close to it.
I don't actually mind sharing my bed too much - I did with my son (although he did sleep in a cot until the early hours of the morning every night) and he now always sleeps in his own room, since H was born when he was 28 months. However, apart from not being totally safe in bed on her own, after settling at 8pm, she also breastfeeds every couple of hours until the following morning and I'd quite like to reduce these since I intend to stop breastfeeding at 12 months (I said this at 6 months!)
I therefore thought that maybe I should try putting her into a single bed - poss mattress on the floor - in her room for at least part of the night.
So I am interested in whether other people have put babies into their own bed at such an early age and how successful it's been.

Aubergine, this is not the answer you're looking for, but I did manage to reduce my co-sleeping son's all night feeds to one at bedtime, without moving him out of the bed. He was a bit fed up for a couple of nights but got the message pretty quickly and has been fine since. It involved wearing long nightdresses with no easy access for little fingers (woven cotton rather than stretchy jersey), plus having a delicious cup of water on hand to offer instead. Just a thought if your prime motivation is cutting down on your daughter's feeding.
He did fall out once, poor thing, but never again...

Our son has slept with us since he was born, starting with sleeping on my tummy. He also hated sleeping in is moses basket and crib. We plan to move is cot into our room, take the side down and put it next to our bed so it is an extension of our bed, then gradually move him into it. We are not in a great hurry through we like the closeness we have with him. Good luck.

Aubergine - have you looked under the sleep section, "sharing bed with baby"? OK this is looking at it from the perspective of baby staying in your bed but it might give you an idea of how long your daughter may stay with you. As you'll probably know it is not easy to move them. I have had some success with moving my son aged 22 months into his own cot for part of the night. I'd say that 12 months is still too young to change her routine and possibly also for the breastfeeding and stopping both may be rather traumatic for her. Difficult when both are related I know! She'll probably sleep for longer periods once she is running about and the b/feeding will diminish in time too.

Marina, can you say a bit more about how you stopped night feeds? I'm about to try as I can't keep on waking up every two hours - but I keep putting it off...did your baby start sleeping longer after that? how much crying to get to that point? etc.

Thanks!

Aubergine, I should also have said I am thinking about the same strategy as you - I thought a mattress might be better because I could still lie down to cuddle her to sleep. My husband is worried though about her being "on the loose" in the bedroom when she starts crawling - so i'd be interested in anyone else's experience too.

Nusch, this is what used to happen: he wasn't a frequent night feeder but whenever he did wake (usually say about 1am and 4am) he'd help himself and by aged nearly 1 he had good strong fingers to lift flaps on those lovely easy to use breastfeeding nighties. I knew he didn't need the milk, just the comfort, but he was waking me up (I'm a light sleeper). So I changed by back into my pre-baby nightwear, which was mostly long and cotton lawn rather than jersey, kept an anyway up cup full of water by the bed, and the next night when he woke he got cuddles and water offered instead. He did cry, for about ten minutes that night and then for the following few for about five minutes, but by day four he knew he was on to a loser and now if he wakes, I don't know about it, unless he's ill or distressed of course. Interestingly, he went straight from 2 night feeds to none this way, and seems to sleep better full stop. I can't believe how easy it was, honest, and I am a real chicken-heart when it comes to applying the controlled crying technique generally. I was reluctant to end the co-sleeping but would have done so if we all continued to sleep badly after ending those feeds. Thankfully now it works very well. There is nothing like being woken by having a wet little kiss planted on your nose and a little voice saying, Hello Mummy. Beats being harangued by John Humphreys & co any day!
Good luck, Nusch, hope this helps.

Marina - interesting to read about your experience since I too cannot handle controlled crying - I tried for a week with my son and decided it wasn't for me - particularly since it was unsuccessful.
Since my daughter fell out of the bed the other day (onto sofa seat cushions so no harm done thankfully) I am now putting her in a travel cot once she has fallen asleep feeding.
She seems to prefer this since she doesn't bang her head on the hard wood of the cot when she moves around. She has slept longer between being put down and her first 'night' feed so far, after which she stays in our bed. I mentioned to the HV today whether it was a problem for a baby to sleep in a travel cot every evening, in terms of supporting her properly but she doesn't seem to think so.
I too am concerned Nusch about her roaming around at night, particularly since she has now started 'turbo' crawling and appears to have little respect for stairs - all attempts at teaching her to come down stairs backwards and to get off the sofa or bed on her tummy are met with giggles as she continues to attempt to hurl herself off head first!