Cosleeping with closely spaced babies--how do you do it?

[boobykinmamma]

We are unexpectedly but joyfully pregnant with our third, and dd will be around 19 months old when her sibling arrives. DS, 4 in April, just started sleeping in his own room and is doing great with it. DD still nurses a lot at night and sleeps pretty close to me on my side of the bed. Ds was just over 2 when I got pregnant with her, and at around 3 months pregnant, we nightweaned using the Jay Gordon method. It only took two nights, and then he slept all night for 11-12 hours, on a futon next to our futon (which is right on the floor) on my side of the bed. After dd was born, she slept on my side of the bed and ds slept on his futon on dh's side until he moved into his own room.

DD still nurses quite a bit at night. I'm 9 weeks along and still have a decent milk supply, and nursing is not uncomfortable yet, so I'm planning to continue night nursing for at least a couple more months, and then hope to gently nightwean (a la No Cry Sleep Solution). I will happily tandem nurse, but I don't want to tandem night-nurse if at all possible.

For those with closely spaced kiddos (2 years or less), how did you work out cosleeping? I'm thinking dd could sleep in one of three places: Between dh and I, with the new baby on my side, on dh's side, or on her own futon on either side. I guess we'll have to kind of take a wait-and-see approach, but I'm curious to hear about other families' experiences with this.

Thanks,

Heather

[Amandzia]

Hi,
My sister had three of her kids in her bed at a time, and eventually they started sleeping on the floor when there wasn't enough room.
When our twins started taking up too much room, we used a crib with the side down as a side car up against the bed with blankets tucked in the gaps. When they were a little over two we replaced the side car with a mattress on the floor. They still spend part of the time down there, part up with us or I'll go down with one or both of them. We play musical beds all night.
I guess you just experiment and different arrangements work at different times depending on the size of the kids and their needs. You just have to protect the baby from being kicked by an older kid and make sure nobody falls on a hard floor or gets wedged in a crack. Don't worry, you'll find a way.