where does your FC sleep?

[natashaccat]

We are awaiting our first FC and sleep is an issue that I'm nervous about.

Both my bio dds were terrible sleepers and we turned to co-sleeping out of desperation. DD2 finally started sleeping through the night at 4 1/4 but only after dd1 volunteered to let dd2 co-sleep with her. So anyway, I'm finally sleeping through the night after about 7 yrs total.

How am I going to find the strength to do night waking all over again and how am I going to manage w/o co-sleeping in my arsenal? Really, babies do sleep in cribs?! How can you make it through the night w/o constantly worrying about SIDS?

[Polliwog]

Yes, babies sleep in cribs and no, they don't have to CIO to do it. My foster babies sleep in cribs in my room. Usually right next to my bed if they are really little and a bit farther away if they are a little older. If your state allows you to have the crib in your room, do it.

[christophersmom]

Our DFD sleeps in her room in her crib, she did it from within the first few hours we had her. I was shocked and she does it happily. Generally we rock her to sleep or feed her to sleep and then rock her then lay her in her crib. My DS never ever slept in a crib he screamed if he wasn't next to you. There is no CIO at our house, occasionally she will whine for less than a minute in the middle of the night. Can't tell you how many times I have gotten up, gone downstairs, got a bottle to come back upstairs to find her back or still asleep usually for the rest of the night. I am getting more used to listening for a few minutes to see if she is just stirring or waking. In the morning, usually on week days I gently wake her and she rolls around for a few minutes before wanting out of her crib, she actually whines if you take her out too soon. She came to us at 5 months.

[marsupial-mom]

In my foster orientation they told a story of a foster mom whose foster children had been homeless and weren't used to sleeping in beds. The foster mom let them sleep in the car, and slept with them there until they were comfortable enough with her to move to their beds.

The point: a crib is required by law, but individual sleeping arrangements are decided by the foster parents depending on the situation. You are supposed to use good judgment and keep them safe. Unless there's a specific law against cosleeping I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just make sure the baby is also comfortable spending time in the crib so they can transition later if they need to.

[mamarhu]

All my bios co-slept until 6, or 8, or 9. So when LittleGirl, now 9. came at 6, I didn't think much of it when I found her crawling into bed with me at night. I saw it was becoming regular, and at that point adoption was not really being discussed. So I traded my queen size bed for a twin, to discourage too much togetherness. We made her a palette next or my bed, and she moved into her own room after a year or so. When her brother LittleGuy moved in (also at 6) last spring, he started directly on my floor. Now he sleeps in a tent in my room. I wake with one or the other in my bed occasionally, but I try to downplay it because we have lawyers breathing down our necks enough anyway.

When my grand-dumplings were here last year, 2YO Figlet clearly preferred sleeping in a crib. TheBoy, at 2 months, was still waking at night for a feeding, so I coslept with him (informal kinship situation=no social workers or lawyers).

[queenjane]

With my first foster son (now my adopted son) i pretty much coslept with him from the beginning, i could not figure out how to get him to stay asleep in a crib, and at that point i *needed* to sleep. There wasnt really an issue of him going "home" though, the plan was pretty much adoption from the start.

My second foster child, a one yr old girl i had two months, wanted no part of cosleeping at all, she loved her crib, was very scheduled, it was amazing. I was a little jealous that she was so easy to put to bed, whereas with my son i needed to lay there with him for up to an hour, and then sneak away after he fell asleep. (still have to in fact.)

My third (current) foster son came from a cosleeping situation, and if he goes home to either parent, will return to a cosleeping situation. I won't say he cosleeps with me cuz that is against the rules after all but he does have a crib in my room. In my state children under three can room in (in a crib) with a parent.

[pixiekisses]

Here they actually allow co-sleeping, so it's not an issue. We only have emergency care babies now, and they co-sleep in the family bed.