I have 3 children...a 9 yr old, 4.5 year old, an almost 3 year old and I am 8 months pregnant with baby #4. I have co-slept with all of them, breastfed, night nursed and night weaned. I have used a humanity family bed, pushed beds against walls, put the mattress on the floor, put a toddler mattress next to our king size bed...tried everything lol! At this point I think co-sleeping with one or two is easy compared to what we r dealing with now. I am really hoping some of you with large families can offer me some new ideas and advice!
My 9 year old reads at night, goes to sleep on his own and sleeps through the night now. He only wakes and comes into our bed if has a scary dream. But when he does come in it is way too crowded in our bed with 2 adults and two toddlers and my pregnant belly. We often have to tell him he must go back to his bed.
My 4 year old and almost 3 year old both recently weaned. I did tandem nurse them for a while and it was not always easy! They start out in their own beds now...we read them stories and rub their backs, sing songs to get them to sleep. But after an hour or two they are waking and coming into our bed. We usually just let them co-sleep the rest of the night with us, but being pregnant we have tried to get them back in their own beds if possible. I love to cuddle, but now it is too uncomfortable. They often sleep sideways and kick me in the belly or back all night. I have woken up crying in pain from the kicks. Plus I cannot get comfortable or stretch out because it is so crowded in our bed. It is hard enough to get comfortable and sleep well just being preg...but in these circumstances it's impossible . So sometimes now when they wake we walk them back to their beds and they lay back down and go right back to sleep no problem, other times my husband will be up and down with them 5 times during the night trying to put them back to bed. The 4 year old is the worst. She never sleeps well. The almost 3 year old sometimes sleeps all night or only wakes once or twice. The worst is when the 4 year old is sleeping with us and wets our bed. It means a whole day of washing and drying our giant comforter...ugggg...it takes hours to dry!! I have tried every kind of pull up and cloth diaper...nothing will hold in the flood lol.
I want to be comfortable in my bed. I want the newborn baby to be safe and not woken by siblings. I don't want to drag the other children kicking and screaming back to their own beds multiple times each night. I have tried putting a toddler mattress or sleeping bag next to our bed but it rarely works. They refuse to lay in it. They want to cuddle next to me. But I am only one person and I only have two arms. How can I safely sleep with a newborn and two toddlers that want me all night too.....? My dh is at his wits end with co-sleeping with everyone. In an ideal world we could all sleep together comfortably all night...but it just isn't physically possible. Any one else have a large family of little ones? How did u do it!!!???
My 9 year old reads at night, goes to sleep on his own and sleeps through the night now. He only wakes and comes into our bed if has a scary dream. But when he does come in it is way too crowded in our bed with 2 adults and two toddlers and my pregnant belly. We often have to tell him he must go back to his bed.
My 4 year old and almost 3 year old both recently weaned. I did tandem nurse them for a while and it was not always easy! They start out in their own beds now...we read them stories and rub their backs, sing songs to get them to sleep. But after an hour or two they are waking and coming into our bed. We usually just let them co-sleep the rest of the night with us, but being pregnant we have tried to get them back in their own beds if possible. I love to cuddle, but now it is too uncomfortable. They often sleep sideways and kick me in the belly or back all night. I have woken up crying in pain from the kicks. Plus I cannot get comfortable or stretch out because it is so crowded in our bed. It is hard enough to get comfortable and sleep well just being preg...but in these circumstances it's impossible . So sometimes now when they wake we walk them back to their beds and they lay back down and go right back to sleep no problem, other times my husband will be up and down with them 5 times during the night trying to put them back to bed. The 4 year old is the worst. She never sleeps well. The almost 3 year old sometimes sleeps all night or only wakes once or twice. The worst is when the 4 year old is sleeping with us and wets our bed. It means a whole day of washing and drying our giant comforter...ugggg...it takes hours to dry!! I have tried every kind of pull up and cloth diaper...nothing will hold in the flood lol.
I want to be comfortable in my bed. I want the newborn baby to be safe and not woken by siblings. I don't want to drag the other children kicking and screaming back to their own beds multiple times each night. I have tried putting a toddler mattress or sleeping bag next to our bed but it rarely works. They refuse to lay in it. They want to cuddle next to me. But I am only one person and I only have two arms. How can I safely sleep with a newborn and two toddlers that want me all night too.....? My dh is at his wits end with co-sleeping with everyone. In an ideal world we could all sleep together comfortably all night...but it just isn't physically possible. Any one else have a large family of little ones? How did u do it!!!???
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