Co sleeping & naps

MaryBB77

Just curious where your LO naps?
We co sleep cos she won't sleep anywhere else. As soon as I go to move her she wakes & cries. If I leave her in the bed she sleeps fine. I'm just nervous to leave her as I'm afraid she'll fall out of the bed so 90% of the time I stay next to her. Or else I'm glued to the monitor.
It's getting old! I need a break to do chores, spend time with dh in the evening, etc.
What do you guys do?

caloneis

Bed rails, but she could still crawl or stand and fall if she wakes when you are not there. You could put mattress on the floor, that is considered the safest for bedsharing.

amt0312

we stopped co-sleeping after the newborn phase, so DD always naps in her pack n play (no crib set up). 

I would put a mattress on the floor if I were in your situation or try the ol' sleep training thing to break the habit of co-sleeping. 

painttheair14

Are you co-sleeping because you want to or because you have to?

We co-slept until 9 months and I loved it for most of that time. The last month or so though I was ready to be done. It was affecting my quality of sleep and I noticed that when I was able to leave him in the bed, he would need me every time he woke up to nurse him back to sleep. We used the Sleep Lady system to transition to his crib (just an FYI if you are interested).

When we were co-sleeping though, I would pretty much nap in bed with him. While it's nice to get naps, I totally get what you are saying about needing time to do stuff (and just have your body to your self for a minute!)

MaryBB77

Yeah I tried the mattress on the floor but she rolled off & screamed blue murder! Tried a bit of the sleep lady's method too but had no success. I think being there & not picking her up made it worse. DH is not on board with all the crying so it's hard to do it when he's here.
Thanks for the responses tho

amt0312

Gonna get on my soap box here. If co sleeping is enjoyable for everyone, then by all means, do it. But once you reach the point of it simply not working for you or you are resenting it, then it needs to change. If you look at the perspective of the crying being due to a change in habits and she's simply protesting the change rather than you and your DH causing her physical pain, it might help to get him on board. Any method of sleep training is going to involve some tears because of course the baby does not want to change the status quo. Why should she? It benefits her and is familiar and comforting. 

Would you feel bad about LO crying if they were trying to play with something dangerous and you removed her from it? Probably not, because its whats best for her. 

Sleep training is the same thing- what's best for her is to learn how to sleep on her own. It also happens to benefit you as well. You also need to commit to a method and be consistent. It doesn't magically happen. 

Try a pack n play or some other type of enclosed sleeping area so she doesn't roll and does not have the option of going anywhere. I think at this age, they are too young to be left unattended in an open sleep space anyways.