Still co-sleeping with 6 year old

[sal1223]

Hi all , my son is autistic / non verbal and has always been sleeping in with me.
I am divorced and now they're getting older (I have 9 year old too) I'd like to get a bit of my life back and have my own bed back.
I know I should have tackled this sooner but I can't cope with him breaking his heart over it. If he wakes and I'm not there , like downstairs he screams and cries for me.
I have a 2 bed home and will be converting it to make it a 3 so each of us has a room so that'll be a start - making a big fuss of his room etc. . Any advise much appreciated x

I’ve not tried it myself (still bedsharing with 4yo) but I like Sarah Ockwell-Smith’s approach. I was thinking of stopping last year and was going to follow this but changed my mind as I wasn’t ready to stop myself.

I know this is aimed at NT children and my son has a physical disability so I don’t know much about autism but this gives you an idea of a gradual approach that you could perhaps adapt if needed.

sarahockwell-smith.com/2016/04/12/how-to-stop-cosleeping-and-bedsharing/

I wasn't holding much hope when you said aimed at NT but have got some really good pointers from that ! Thank you so much Xxx

Oh good I’m so glad there are things you can take from it. Good luck, hope it goes well!

Following with interest as my DD is 4 and sleeps with us due to anxiety.

It is better than us sleeping on her floor and her waking in distress and weeping.

Recently we bought a small size toddler bed and have it right up against our bed. This means DD can hear, smell, sense me but she is actually on a separate mattress a bit lower than us, and I'm hoping it will help her learn to feel secure in her "own" space. Hoping we can then inch her bed away gradually until the toddler bed is in the room but totally separate from
Ours, then work out how to take next step and get toddler bed into her own room.

Oh and we're also trying to do 10 mins a day relaxed play in her own room, just to try and build positive associations with it, also lying in there to read a story etc. However my DD is demand avoidant so as soon as she sensed any pressure from us to do something she shuts down and resists with force, so we're anticipating this could be a long journey and very gradual. Either that, or one day she will simply decide she wants to sleep in her own room, and that will be it.

That all sounds good , what I took from the article is creating familiar things / smells in with me to the transfer into new room ( I was thinking put same perfume on before bed every night and spraying a teddy when it's time to move- getting a cool new colour changing lamp that can go in there and stuff like that , and leaving it for 2 months after their room is ready to play I. There and get used to it . In my situation I only have 2 bed house and 2 children. So plan is to convert bathroom and present him with a brand new room full of his interests etc . Also other point I'll take is the seeping in with him for first 2 weeks too .