How long did you co-sleep for?

[DalesWidda]

My oldest coslept until 2.5. I transitioned her by putting a crib mattress on the floor, then slowly moved her into her own room. My middle dd only coslept for 8 months. She weaned around then as well. She was not a good cosleeper so she ended up in a crib in her sister's room. My youngest is 3.5 and still cosleeping. She has a twin bed upstairs in her sisters' room but I have a hard time letting her sleep up there, mainly because it's an attic bedroom and there is no door. I have terrible nightmares of her falling down the stairs in the middle of the night and breaking her neck. So yeah, every time I've tried putting her up there I end up waking up in the middle of the night and going to get her LOL. Not sure how long we'll cosleep. Probably untill I feel like she can navigate the stairs safely.

[l_Kimmie_l]

DS1 slept in my bed till he was 6 yrs old. DS2 was 15 months old, DS3 was 6 months old and DS4 is still sleeping with us at 8 mos.

[Computermama]

DD1 roomshared with us out of necessity until she was 22 months. We were renovating the second floor and we had no where else to put her. DD2 roomshared with us for the first 6 weeks, and bedshared as well when I couldn't get her to sleep any other way, but we all slept better when she was moved across the hall into her own room. She still ended up in bed with us occasionally until she was 3-4 months old, but much less than that first few weeks.

Now I still bedshare with her for naps. For whatever reason, I can't get her easily to that mostly sleepy ready to be put down state during the day as I can for nights, so for naps I frequently lie down with her in my bed, nurse her to sleep and then sneak out. She's 7 months old.

[UmmKira]

DD2 transitioned to her own toddler bed around 20 months, but still comes in our bed in the middle of the night. DD1 never officially coslept with me/us, but if she woke up in the middle of the night it was just easiest for me to bring her in our bed instead of trying to get her back to sleep. She crawled into my bed during the night until she was 5 or so.

[doulamomma]

My dds are 5.5, 3.5, & 2. We have a queen and a king. We all sleep in carrying combinations of parents & kids, but no one ever sleeps alone. The big girls will sometimes start our in their own beds, but end up with a patent at some point. I love it. Its easy and everyone sleeps best this way.

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[wordmama]

In many cultures, kids sleep with adult family members and siblings until they reach puberty and sometimes until they move out on their own. Your therapist is thinking with the typical North American mentality that babies need to be taught independence immediately! A lot of people can't wrap their head around the idea that calm, loving family beds set the stage for confidence and positive sleep associations that lead to independence.

We slept with DS until he was about a year, then transitioned him to a crib in our room and then into his own room when he was ready. He's six now and has been sleeping well on his own for quite some time. DD1 liked her own space from the time she was an infant. DD2 is definitely a co-sleeping pro. We plan to do the same with her that we've done with the others: allow the child to set the pace.

Long story short, if it works for you and everyone's happy, who cares what anyone else thinks.

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[armywife2002]

my ds is 5, and is still in my bed more often that not. i mostly dont mind, except for when he and the dog steal all the covers

[joeslittlewoman]

We cosleep/bed share for as long as it works for all involved. With ODS it was 10months. At that point he was waking every 45-90min (for months) and I was losing my mind. I think my restless, pregnant body was keeping him up, and he just needed his space. He slept well in his crib after that. I miss that crib. He is back to frequent night wakings.

With YDS it was 13 months. At that point he was keeping my hubby up with his kicking/moving, and had to be evicted . It was not fun to drag my butt upstairs for the night wakings, but once he nightweaned he slept much better.

Now, we start out the nights in our own beds, but typically one or both boys (2 and 3) end up bed sharing with us. We are buying a king size bed today to accommodate. I actually think it is ideal for the kids to start in their own sleep space (cosleeper for baby) and end up bedsharing after a few hours. That way we have some time for marital snuggles/intimacy/sex/etc, but still get to snuggle our boys. We can usually accommodate sex either way, but lack on the snuggles when we have the kid(s) in the bed for the entire night. We are very physically affectionate people, so we really notice the reduced snuggle time.

For this new little guy, the goal is to cosleep and nurse for 2 years. I negotiated it in for hubby buying the house he wanted, which once again didn't have a nursery near the Master, lol. We shall see...

[Michelle_M]

DS1 co-slept until almost 3.
DS2 until around 18 months.
DS3 started weaning out of my bed at around 18 months, not sleeping with me fully around 2 1/2.

My boys all share a room, and though there are two beds in there they all end up in a cuddle puddle on one bed anyway.

God bless!

[croark]

Not at all with my first though I wish I had now. With #2 and #3 we co-slept in the same bed until 3-4 months. Then I started putting them in a playpen right beside my bed until a year old. At that point they went to the crib in their own room. All my kids are excellent sleepers.