Adding a newborn to the family bed

[cmapperson]

I'm sure this has been covered before, but I wanted to ask everyone's opinion.

My son is just over 2 now, he will be about 2.5 when baby sister arrives. He has slept with us since the first night in the hospital. When he was an infant he would spend some time in a swing, Kanoe etc, but has never slept an entire night away from the family bed.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to add the newborn to the mix.

I would rather not transition my son out until he's ready. Our VERY brief attempts to let him cry have obviously not been successful, nor do I want to even consider it.

I don't want to deny my daugther the opportunity to co-sleep.

Anyone have any good experiences they would like to share? Ideas that seemed great at the time and failed miserably?

Thanks!
CMA

[Cersha]

in our family, it goes newborn, me, dh, DS1. Always someone between DS1 and DS2. We have a side car crib for extra space.

[ians_mommy]

Originally Posted by Cersha

in our family, it goes newborn, me, dh, DS1. Always someone between DS1 and DS2. We have a side car crib for extra space.

This is similar to our setup.

We purchased a king bed in anticipation of DD. I have a cosleeper on my side of the bed that DD is perfectly content in, however, I often fall quickly back to sleep when she is nursing and do not awaken until she fusses again to nurse (needs to switch sides). So she often spends most of the night in bed with me.

When she is nursing on my right she is between me and the cosleeper and so no worries. When she is on my left she is between me and DH. I pull my legs up around her (think fetal position) just in case DH were to lean back (we are both side sleepers) he will hit my knee and not her. DS is on the other side of DH.

On occasion, DS will get out of bed and come around and want to get in on my side for a snuggle with me. I then put DD back into the cosleeper until she is ready to nurse again and which time DS is back asleep and can be easily moved back to the other side of DH.

We do have a toddler bed on the side of the king bed that DS sleeps. We place him there at the start of thie night and for naps. Maybe you could bring a small bed into your room just to get your LO familiar with it to make transition easier down the road.