Safe co-sleeping with two BEYOND NEWBORNS

[BlackSheepPDX]

My 3yo DD1 goes to sleep in her room at about 6:30, and stays asleep until generally around 10 when she wakes for a potty trip, then usually goes back to sleep in her own bed for another chunk, migrating to our bed anywhere between midnight and 5am. When she comes in right now, she's sleeping on the outside of DH, with almost 3 week old DD2 between DH and me, and a wall and body pillow on my side of the king size bed. Right now we're diligently avoiding DD1 and DD2 interacting in the bed, but DH is pretty crowded pinned between them, and struggling a bit as DD1 is a big snuggler/groper (which is part of why she's not on my side, as I'm already pretty maxxed out on being touched with the newborn nursing needs).

Question: when can I worry less about DD1 and DD2 being next to each other? We're planning to shift them to a sibling bed around 18 months, after night-weaning, but trying to figure out what the interim time will look like in terms of family bed sharing evolution.

[BlackSheepPDX]

bump

anyone? When do you let your babe sleep near your older child?

[waiting2bemommy]

could you invest in a bedrail? that way you could put the baby next to you between the rail and yourself, and let older dd sleep on the other side of dad. the bedrail has been a lifesaver for us since it allows SO and I to cuddle without worrying about dd. I do let the kids lay next to each other and snuggle in the morning but I'm usually half awake anyway, and I think at this point I would be ok with ds sleeping next to dd, but she is almost 5 months. I would not risk it until the baby was old enough to roll over independently and very close if not already crawling. It makes me feel like if the older child was inadvertently squishing the baby he/she would be able to move around a bit and get free.

[Marissamom]

I personally would keep an adult between the two until the younger one is old enough to roll over and the weight ratio between the two is to a point where the younger could squirm out from under the older. depending on the size of the kids and the strength and coordination of the younger one that might be between 6 and 12 months as a guess. like the pp said, a bed-rail on your side or putting your side of the bed against a wall might work well in the meantime.