Cosleeping with toddler and newborn

[Bunny2]

Any advice on how to cosleep (and breastfeed) with a 2 year old and a newborn? I am expecting any day and my husband and I would like to cosleep with both kids. Do you have any practical advice on the order in bed, safety issues, other matters (i.e. baby on the outside?, can I turn my back on the baby while nursing or cuddling my 2 year old?, can baby and toddler sleep alone in bed before I call it a night?, is the baby going to wake up the toddler when nursing?, any books or articles you know on this issue?).

[GracesMama]

I can tell you my experiences. DD #1 was 2 1/2 when DD #2 was born. A few weeks before the baby was born, we changed our sleeping order to DD, DH, and me. If DD wanted to nurse, she climbed over daddy, nursed, and usually fell asleep there. Once the baby was born, we kept the order the same with the baby between me and the wall. For the first 4 months, DD #1 would go to bed first, as usual, and I would keep the baby with me until I was ready to go to sleep. She would nurse and sleep in my arms until I was ready for bed. Then, I was ready to start putting her down before I was ready to go to bed, so I would put her in a pack n play until I was ready for bed. Around 5 1/2 months, we started putting DD #1 to bed in her own bed in another room, moving her to our room when she woke up (sometime between 2 and 5 in the morning). This allowed me to safely nurse my baby to sleep in our bed without worrying about the toddler messing with her once I left the room.

When DD #2 was a newborn, I would turn my back to her to nurse DD #1, but roll back over as soon as I was done. I just felt better facing her. Around 4 1/2 - 5 months, I felt comfortable turning my back to nurse DD #1 and falling asleep that way.

Good luck!

[NaturalTXMama]

We cospleep with a 3.5 yo DS and 1 yo DD and LOVE it!

Here is what worked in the beginning and is still working for us a year later. We side carred our crib. It was orginally my DS's crib - which he NEVER slept a night in. At first I put DD in the crib an left DS in between us. Then by the time she was sleeping without needing to be swaddled (around 5 months) then she moved in between us and DS in the crib.

There is some info on how to side car your crib on my blog...

www.certifiedorganicmom.blogspot.com

[linguistmama]

DD1 was almost 3 when DD2 was born and we still cosleep with both of them. We started out the night with dh and I between the two of them. At some point dd1 would crawl over dh and be next to me, with the baby on my other side. DD1 was night weaned, but if she hadn't been I would have kept the same arrangement, one on each side of me. I would have been ok turning my back to the baby for a few short periods at night. Right now DD2 goes to sleep in the early evening when she gets tired and DD1 usually goes to sleep later when dh and I do. DD2 woke DD1 up a few times, but DD1 got used to it really quickly and sleeps through DD2's noises now.

We have a queen next to a twin. We really like cosleeping with both of them!