Thread: Co-sleeping
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Old 11-25-2005, 09:14 AM
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GCS GCS is offline
Mom to 2 from Vladivostok
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Bringing home two is sure a lot tougher to manage co-sleeping arrangements.

Here's what we did. Our oldest had turned 3 just before we brought him home, our youngest was 5 months. Since the baby was on a different sleep schedule, I would rock her to bed and let her fall asleep on me everytime she went down. (Completely against the sleep experts advice, but we were focusing on attachment first and foremost).

Our oldest would go down in his own bed but I would lay on the floor next to his toddler bed and hold his hand until he fell asleep. We initially tried co-sleeping with him but he would just play so this was a better solution.
For naps I would let him sleep in our room and would lay down with him until he was asleep. Usually I would get up and try to get some things done during his nap.
We've been home a year now and I still stay with our oldest until he falls asleep at night, DH doesnt they just play for a while, say goodnight and that's that, so he doesnt need it. I just think it is good to enforce that attachment even after a year and it's nice for me to sit there a few minutes and rub his head or hold his hand.

I did move the baby to a different bedtime routine after 5 or 6 months. She needed to learn to fall asleep independantly and we slowly got her to sleep on her own. I still rock her and give her a bottle everytime I put her down - one nap and at night - even though she is on a sippy cup during the day.

Best of luck!
Christina
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Christina
Big Boy (b. 9/1/01 a. 11/16/04)
Buttercup (b. 6/8/04 a. 11/16/04)
Vladivostok, Russia
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