Background: For her first 9 months, my dd slept swaddled in bed with my dh and I and often slept with her face directly on my boob. At 9 months she started struggling in the swaddler and easily transitioned to not needing it. Since then, she moves a lot more during the night and doesn't need to touch me except when she is nursing to sleep (side lying until she is completely out). However, since she takes up so much more room, my dh has started sleeping on the couch.
We really need some way for dh to be able to sleep in our bed. We have our mattress on the floor with a crib mattress next to it that dd has napped on a couple of times, but she doesn't sleep on at night. My rough plan is to nurse her to sleep in our bed and keep her there for the first few hours when dh and I are still awake. She usually goes to sleep around 8 or 9 and I lay in bed with her (reading or whatever) and she stirs and nurses every 1/2-1 hour. She doesn't nurse much during the day anymore (she nurses often but not for more than a few minutes during the day. is that normal for a nearly 1 year old?), so I want her to have that nursing time. Then when I go to sleep around 11, I'd like to move her over to the crib mattress for the night. She usually doesn't wake more than once or twice from when I go to sleep until when she wakes up at 7 or 8. I think I could just move over to her mattress to nurse her and then move back to my bed. Maybe that would naturally encourage her to give up those feedings? She doesn't nurse for long during those times; I really think it's just her only way of getting back to sleep when she wakes rather than waking because she needs to eat, if that makes sense (and that's totally valid, I'm not planning to force her to stop, I just think she could be gently persuaded).
We're not planning to start trying until after a vacation in August. Do you think I should try this as soon as we get back or should I let her sleep in our bed for a while and then try it?
Our backup plan is to trade her crib mattress for a twin and dh can sleep on it and it will be available for her whenever she's ready. How long should I try her on the crib mattress before giving up?
Does that sound like a good plan? Can you think of anything I'm missing? Thanks!
We really need some way for dh to be able to sleep in our bed. We have our mattress on the floor with a crib mattress next to it that dd has napped on a couple of times, but she doesn't sleep on at night. My rough plan is to nurse her to sleep in our bed and keep her there for the first few hours when dh and I are still awake. She usually goes to sleep around 8 or 9 and I lay in bed with her (reading or whatever) and she stirs and nurses every 1/2-1 hour. She doesn't nurse much during the day anymore (she nurses often but not for more than a few minutes during the day. is that normal for a nearly 1 year old?), so I want her to have that nursing time. Then when I go to sleep around 11, I'd like to move her over to the crib mattress for the night. She usually doesn't wake more than once or twice from when I go to sleep until when she wakes up at 7 or 8. I think I could just move over to her mattress to nurse her and then move back to my bed. Maybe that would naturally encourage her to give up those feedings? She doesn't nurse for long during those times; I really think it's just her only way of getting back to sleep when she wakes rather than waking because she needs to eat, if that makes sense (and that's totally valid, I'm not planning to force her to stop, I just think she could be gently persuaded).
We're not planning to start trying until after a vacation in August. Do you think I should try this as soon as we get back or should I let her sleep in our bed for a while and then try it?
Our backup plan is to trade her crib mattress for a twin and dh can sleep on it and it will be available for her whenever she's ready. How long should I try her on the crib mattress before giving up?
Does that sound like a good plan? Can you think of anything I'm missing? Thanks!
