having twins in the spring, with a co-sleeping 4 year old...how do we all sleep??

[coome]

we LOVE co-sleeping with our 3.5 year old son.  he will turn 4 right before our twins are due, so i'm just starting to think about what this could look like.  we really want to keep him in our bed.  my friends with twins say i can NOT sleep in another room with the babies because i will need my dh to help with nighttime feedings.  i really want to all be together, but i want ds to get good sleep at night...any creative sleeping suggestions out there??

[Emaya]

We didn't co-sleep, but I love what my friend with four kids did -- two king size bed mattresses right on the floor pushed up next to each other, matching sheets and blankets so it looked like one huge bed. Everyone has more than enough room. 

My four-year-old isn't disturbed by our triplet babies cries, though she's in the bedroom next-door with the door open. Your son might be woken for a few nights, but he'll probably get used to it and learn to sleep right through it. 

Most likely, you'll just have to wait and see what works when the time comes. All the ideas I had about how we'd do nights (and practically everything else) were wrong once we met the little boogers. We were pleasantly surprised how much easier things were than we made them out to be while I was pregnant. 

[Brambleberry]

This is just an idea, not direct experience, but a setup that could work would be a king size bed with a crib side-cared up to one side and a bed rail on the other side.  Preschooler sleeps next to dad, between him and the bed rail - start doing this asap so it's not a drastic change when babies are born.  Babies can spend most of the night in the crib if your son doesn't stay put on the other side of dad very well, but if he's safely kept away from the babies you would have the flexibility to have one or more baby between you and dad, or one on either side of you.  

We did the side-car thing with DD's crib, and had her between us as a newborn (until she started kicking us and wiggling down under the covers).  The side-car worked out really well as a toddler since she started really wanting to have her own personal space at night - around 2 yrs old, and she was still close enough for comfort and convenience.

[Adaline'sMama]

Originally Posted by Emaya 

We didn't co-sleep, but I love what my friend with four kids did -- two king size bed mattresses right on the floor pushed up next to each other, matching sheets and blankets so it looked like one huge bed. Everyone has more than enough room. 

My four-year-old isn't disturbed by our triplet babies cries, though she's in the bedroom next-door with the door open. Your son might be woken for a few nights, but he'll probably get used to it and learn to sleep right through it. 

Most likely, you'll just have to wait and see what works when the time comes. All the ideas I had about how we'd do nights (and practically everything else) were wrong once we met the little boogers. We were pleasantly surprised how much easier things were than we made them out to be while I was pregnant. 

Oh, thank god. 

[1SmallAxe]

We moved 5 y.o. daughter's "big girl" mattress into our room as an extension of our bed and talked about her "big girl" room she could have when she was ready (didn't take long for her). I sleep with my twins on either side of me while propped on my back and nurse both of them through the night with no need for help as I don't pump. I take care of input hubs..output.