s/o co-sleeping positions

[T'smom]

I've been wanting to ask this question and the other thread on co-sleeping positions made me think this was the right time!

What do you do when the baby is a little older/weaned and needs to go to bed earlier than you? We started putting my now 21 month old in his own room when he was 14 months. He'd been weaned for a month and wasn't sleeping well with us. Whenever he'd wake slightly in the middle of the night, he'd think "ooh, there's daddy....time to play" when he's alone and he wakes slightly, he rolls over and goes back to sleep. However, he HATES bedtime/sleeping in his crib. As soon as someone says the word 'bedtime' he cries and cries. I hate this. I always said I would never let a child cry themselves to sleep, but (even with the no-cry sleep solution book) I can't figure out what else to do. For the first month and a half that he was in his crib, dh and I would take turns sleeping on an air mattress next to his crib- we made the transition as easy as possible....but....he still cries and cries. And....he needs to go to bed earlier than we do- I still need to do some cleaning and take a shower after he's in bed and before I go to bed. So....I guess this is really two issues- the discrepancy between when you need to sleep and when the baby needs to sleep and how you get them to not think it's playtime at 3 am?

Sorry this is so long......thanks for any insight.

[Ravin]

We transitioned DD to a mat on the floor next to our bed. Also sometimes she'd fall asleep in the living room and we'd just let her sleep there...the whole 'let sleeping babies lie' policy. She wasn't nightweaned until she was 3, but would fall asleep and let me get up long before that, so she'd just sleep in the big bed by herself the first part of the night (generally near the middle of the king sized bed, and we had the box spring resting directly on the floor, so if she did fall, it wasn't very far). She was impossible to move while sleeping until she was 3 or so, though. If she'd been a more solid sleeper, I'd have worried more about a consistent place for her to sleep. Eventually, she slept on the couch in the living room for about a year, then transitioned to her own bed. Now, she usually sleeps in her own bed, and if she falls asleep elsewhere, I can pick her up and move her.

[KidsHappen]

I never found a solution to that problem. Whenever one of us would go lay down to put them to sleep, we would fall asleep! Finally we gave up trying to put them to sleep in another room because we got tired of sleeping on the floor or a twin sized bed. We would just put them to sleep in our bed and then sneak out of the room after they fell asleep if we hadn't already fallen asleep ourselves. Everyone got more sleep that way. I eventually downsized them to a twin size bed in our room and the last one of those just moved out of my room in the last few months. :001_smile:

[SnowWhite]

I put my oldest ds on a twin size bed at 18 months or so. I'd lie beside him until he fell asleep. His bedtime was early enough that I *didn't* fall asleep. Sometimes it took a while, but soon he got used to it and it was quicker.

 

His brother slept in a crib in his brother's room from the time he was 4 months old, so that was no issue. (I did still nurse him to sleep/sleepy in the recliner until he was past 2 though).

 

Could you try rocking him to sleep (or sleepy)?

 

Have you read the No-Cry TODDLER Sleep Solution? I haven't but would if I were having toddler sleep issues as it worked great with my ds.