The day came and we (finally!) moved the kids into their own room. We have co-slept with the kids since they were born. Even in the hospital I'd sneak a baby into my bed. It was just so much easier to nurse them having them right next to me and I got more sleep!
As they grew older they'd go through growth spurts, either physical or emotional and I'd tell my husband that I'd had it and that we were moving them out. He'd support me and ask me to formulate a plan and then he'd help. We'd get through the spurt and the kids would settle back to an acceptable sleeping pattern.
We are at the tail end of another growth spurt that has been particularly difficult. That coupled with the fact that they will sleep for longer stretches if I'm not in the room made the decision to move them into their own room easier. Another huge deciding factor is that I want to sleep with my husband again!
Let me explain. We had two queen size mattresses on the floor in our room. I slept on one mattress with the kids and my husband slept on the other. There were times when one of the kids would go cuddle with him but for the most part they slept next to me. I've come to realize that I haven't been making my husband a priority and I think that sleeping next to him is a pretty big step in the right direction.
The kids have always had a room but they had never slept in it. I'm not sure what I'd envisioned. We had always intended that they would sleep in our room as newborns but we never had a plan for moving them out. Their room had a crib in it for a while. It came in handy for holding clothes and toys for the babies! We tried the crib for a while once the babies got too big to sleep side-by-side in the co-sleeper attached to our bed. I'd lay our son down in the crib and he'd immediately start squawking. It didn't matter how long I rocked him as soon as his head touched the mattress he'd complain.
The transition went smoother than I expected. The first night we had been out and the kids fell asleep in the car so I slept in their room with them. The next night we went upstairs and ushered them into their "new room!" and had new stuffed animals there to greet them. For the next few days they were quite excited and they talked about their room often.
It has been almost two weeks now and my daughter now sleeps through the night!!! and my son sleeps a six or seven hour stretch. I think we lucked out with timing it right and really, I think that the kids were ready and able to handle it. Plus, the husband and I actually sleep together again! At this rate, we're going to actually have to start using birth control again!
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I gotta send this to my girl the the nonlinear one. New twins mama.
Nice to meet you the other night.. Oh yeah and right you just ‘lucked out’. Sounds like you played it smart RCM!
Oh, lucky you! My 4-year-old daughter actually slept on her own from a pretty young age, but my 11-month-old son wants none of it. He also wakes up as soon as his head hits a crib mattress. It’s like he has a 6th sense about it or something. While I’m sort of enjoying the co-sleeping, I’m also looking forward to the day when I can spread out and have some personal space again. Enjoy yours!
We loved co-sleeping and co-slept with our son (first) until the twins were born when he was 2 years old. With the twins, and 2 year old co-sleeping was just not do-able..even with a king bed. But if I had 2 queen beds on the floor…would have been nice.
Glad the transition for your twins went well.