Advice? Managing 3yo and newborn sleep habits!

Question

Right now my 3yo ends up in our bed every night bc I just got tired of transferring her to her own bed every night. I'm wondering what's going to happen once the baby is born. I plan on using a co-sleeper for the first 3 mos while I breastfeed. I'm worried my 3yo's sleeping habits will be disrupted assuming she continues to climb into our bed every night. We've tried every sleep training method since she was 6 mos, even CIO, though we honestly didn't wait longer than 5 or 6 minutes of crying. Does anyone have any advice or experience with a similar situation? We don't mind our 3yo in our bed. (She goes to pre-k and is very well-adjusted). We're just concerned about adding a baby to the mix.

Answer

Honestly this is what I had to do.. I loathe co sleeping with a passion so when he got in the habit of being in my bed i put his crib mattress on the floor beside my bed.. then a while later moved it to the other side of the room.. then to the living room.. then to the other side of the living room. . Then into his room.. then into his bed again.. and I would sit in with him every night until he went to sleep and told him if you wake-up come get me but we went right back into his room where I sat up and waited again. It sucks but it's all I found to work other than listening to him scream for 45 mins. At 3 they get the concept

Answer

My daughter is 2 1/2 and she was in our room, in her "toddler" crib, (usually only half the night then in our bed) until about a month ago. I'm 5 months pregnant so I knew this wouldn't work once baby was born. This is what we did and it worked really well for us:

We finally converted her old nursery/playroom into her bedroom. We bought the IKEA KURA "reversible" bed, assembled it so that the bed was on top and bought a support for the bottom "bunk" and put a mattress there for her to sleep. The top is covered with the IKEA tent and all of her stuffed animals are in there. We also got some butterfly lights and put them in the bottom. She uses the top bunk as a play space and the bottom for sleeping.

As soon as the bed was assembled we put her to sleep that night in the bottom after playing in it all day. I still lay down with her until she falls asleep and then I leave. My husband has been comforting her at night when she wakes up to pee or whatever so she gets used to him at night once the baby is born. I'm super attachment parenting and never did CIO with her and she was sleeping with us from the beginning. She's also very attached. We were both shocked at how easy she transitioned. It was fun and new and she doesn't complain and has never tried to come into our bedroom at night, into our bed, or in her own crib. She still wakes almost every night and needs some kind of comfort but it's literally 5 minutes tops and she's back in her bed in her bedroom.

Answer

We're actually planning on getting a low loft "big girl" bed this summer before the baby's born. Your reply makes me hopeful!

Advice? Managing 3yo and newborn sleep habits!

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