Family Bed or DH sleeps with DS?

[tdot mama]

Hi everyone,

i'm in a bit of a quandary here.  DS is 20 months old and pretty much relies on me 99% of the time to put him to sleep at night via nursing.  During the day my parents watch him and he naps just fine without nursing and we are in the process of night weaning which is going really well so far (fingers crossed).  Oh, and we've sleep shared since ds was born.  Its been great .

We are expecting our second in late December when DS will be 2.  When I think back to my first 1.5 yrs with ds and sleep sharing.. well, we've had our rocky moments.  Not sleeping, constant nursing, etc.  I've finally got him sleeping well and I really don't want the new baby to wake him (or him wake the new baby) andddd I really don't to nurse both kiddies at night (I don't thin kit will be fair to DS to see his new sibling nursing while I tell him that bobo is ni-night). 

We are renovating our main level and it will be done in a few weeks.  So we will be moving upstairs from the basement where we have lived so far.  We will be moving into new bedrooms and there will be change to get used to.  Considering this,  figured that this would be a good time for DH to take over night time with DS.  Our rooms are small and we have a king bed, to fit another bed int eh room would meant hat it has to be right up against ours (which kindof defeats the purpose).... So should we take this time to introduce DS to his new room where DH will sleep with him? He is super cuddly and I don't want to traumatize him - DH and him to cuddle in bed but when he wants comfort he always looks to me (pretty much because of bf which I know makes DH feel left out).   

Any one have experience with this?

[Peony]

This is what we do, at the end of my pg, we transition the youngest to sleeping with just DH. It works very well for us.

[tdot mama]

Hi Peony,  what was your transition like?  Did you take a few days (or weeks) to slowly have DH take over the bedtime and thru-the-night routine? 

[To-Fu]

I just wanted to offer up that my DS was 2y4m when his little brother was born and we all continued to sleep together in the big (king) family bed.  Everyone adjusted and it was fine.  Very few wake-ups! The biggest change was that DH became DS1's snuggle/sleep buddy and relocated to the other side of the bed to put some space and bodies between him and the newborn.  

It has worked out great for us!  I wonder if something like that could work for you, too. 

[allisonrose]

Separate cosleeping arrangements is what we went to when ds2 was born. Ds1 was already fully weaned but he was/is a restless sleeper and usually preferred to be next to me, at times sleeping on top of my body pillow. He was 2y4m when ds2 was born. Hubby took him into another room to sleep with him. Over time, they have transitioned to separate sleeping surfaces in the same room. I am still bedsharing with ds2.

I do miss having my hubby nearby when I sleep - both due to cuddling and due to lack of (occasional) help. He doesn't miss having a little one next to him.