XP: Trying to stop co-sleeping at 12 months

lmanforte

We are ready. She is not.The last two nights were two hours of hell before we brought her back to bed with us.Advice (be kind, please!), and encouragement greatly appreciated!!!! 

ctbride08

What have you tried so far?

My approach would be a gentle multi-step transition starting with getting her to sleep in a crib or floor bed in your room, then work on getting her into her own room.

If you are going cold turkey on sleeping seperate and moving to her own room, it may be too much too fast.

ErinRC

does she normally spend all night in your bed? NCSS has some good ideas to try (play in crib during day to get used to it, transitional objects, moving her from your bed after she's already asleep) it's always tough to know what will work though, so sometimes it takes some trial and error

lmanforte

So far we have tried instituting a new bedroom routine. Bath with Mommy, PJs with Daddy, nurse with Mommy, brush teeth with Daddy, 2 books with Daddy and then rock to a lullaby CD. Then we lay her down and she screams and cries.

 

So we tried getting her to sleep first. But, as soon as you lower her, she wakes up.

 

I've tried laying on the floor in her room and rubbing her back through the crib rail- no go.

 

We just started taking naps in the crib last week and she goes down for everyone except me and my husband. She has always slept in either our bed or our arms.

 

What is NCSS?

 

I think I just may move her to a toddler bed so I can lay with her and sneak out once she is asleep. With a baby proof room, a gate at the door, and a bed alarm if she gets up, is this really unsafe? 

BFab11

DS has a floor bed, a full-size mattress on the floor.  We close his door at night and have a monitor so we can listen for him.  He's actually doing well, and I can still nurse him down and get some cuddles in before I sneak out.

DH works nights and gets home after his bedtime so a lot of times I'll just put DS to sleep in my bed, and DH will move him to his room when he gets home from work.  I don't know how he does it because when I try and move him, even dead asleep, in his bed, he wakes right up. So we still nurse or cuddle to sleep, no matter which room we're in.  

Sometimes he'll wake in the mornings and just start talking over the monitor, and we have to be careful when we open the door to his bedroom because he'll get out of his bed and be waiting for us at the door, lol.  

Oh and NCSS is No Cry Sleep Solution, a book by Elizabeth Pantley. 

lmanforte

Oh! I have that book! Just haven't had time to read it because of the whole co-sleeping thing... LOL

 

Makes me feel a lot better knowing your son is in a bed already! Thank you!!! 

Meg&Jesse

ctbride08:

My approach would be a gentle multi-step transition starting with getting her to sleep in a crib or floor bed in your room, then work on getting her into her own room.

This. We stopped co sleeping right around a year.  I put a mattress on the floor in DS's room and we slept on the mattress together for a few nights.  Then we transitioned to putting him in the crib and I stayed sleeping on the mattress on the floor.  Eventually we got to laying on the floor only until he fell asleep and then he was going to sleep on his own after we laid him down without us laying there. 

This process took a couple of weeks, very slow transition.  And there have been bumps in the road here and there.  There were still times we had to lay with him until he fell asleep and even times where he comes to bed with us, like last night. 

Good luck!