Once upon a time there was a little boy named Marcus. That little boy was full of energy and spunk and could sleep all the way through the night in his own crib like a pro.
Then, one day (three weeks ago) that little boy came down with a harrowing cold. The cough that accompanied the virus would wake little Marcus in the middle of the night. No consolation could be found for poor little Marcus unless he was snuggled safely next to his mommy, in her bed.
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| Marcus isn't the only one taking up space in bed. |
The routine of coughing, waking, and slipping into his parents bed (right around 2:00AM) continued until Marcus was well.
Except, that routine soon became the every night reality for Marcus and his parents.
Now, Marcus has become an interloper of sorts. As much as his mommy loves the snuggles, she does *not* love the constant kicking, and turning, and poking, and prodding. Nor does his mommy enjoy waking every night to try to comfort an inconsolable toddler who should be sleeping *all* night long. In.his.own.bed.
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| These two are serious bed hogs. |
The moral of the story? This mommy is tired and has decided it's time to put the kibosh on the whole co-sleeping bit. No one enjoys it, or gets any sleep… Except Marcus.
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| Between Marcus, Drake, and Izzy there is literally no room left for anyone else in our queen size bed. |
Until three weeks ago we *never* co-slept. Now, we are in what seems to be a vicious nightly cycle. Tips on breaking this nightly bad habit are more than welcome!!
All I can say is good luck! We have several friends who still co-sleep with ALL their children. One of them has FOUR, plus her husband, in a queen bed. Apparently, they haven't found the secret either!
ReplyDeleteHaha! Oh no! Seriously, everyone else has taken over YOUR bed. You poor thing. Good luck! I foresee a lot of wailing and crying in your future.
ReplyDeleteGood luck! I had that problem last summer with Hannah after our trip home. At first we gradually started phasing it out by letting her fall asleep in our bed, and then moving her to her bed. Then we let her sleep on our floor if she woke up during the night. Eventually, we had to be the bad parents and let her tough it out. We put her in her bed and told her she had to sleep in it. Every 5 minutes or so we would go talk to her if she was yelling. After a few days, she was back to her old routine of sleeping through the night in her bed. It sucked!
ReplyDeleteno advice here as I have never co slept with my kid a day in my life. however, I was the kid who often (not every night) woke up in the night to crawl in mom and dads bed. until I was 4. but my parents allowed it bc they said they were "too old" to care (mid thirties!)
ReplyDeletegood luck!
The only time we co-sleep is when he is sick and just won't sleep. But yes - it tends to lead to a new routine. Once I am sure that he is not at all sick anymore we just go back to the cry-it-out method. He doesn't cry long and it only last a night or so.
ReplyDeleteYou will have to do the cry it out method. It will not last long. Olivia had some issues like this when she was younger. We put her in bed awake now and she will still cry for 30 seconds but it used to be 10 minutes!
ReplyDeleteUHHHH... Good luck I hope the transition goes easy for you and Marcus!! Keep us updated!
ReplyDeleteMace needs those jammies pretty desperately.
ReplyDeleteWe are having weird sleep here too. Every morning at 5am Mace starts crying. No clue why. He goes back to sleep after a while.....but it. is. so. annoying.
We also went thru a phase right around the time Mace was one where he was in our bed every night. Basically one night we just decided we weren't bringing him in with us because we were tired of it. And we let him cry for a while. And life was good again.
Oh no!!! You aren't going to like it, but you are just going to have to let him CIO. I know it sucks. But I promise it will work.
ReplyDeleteGood luck & If you need some ear plugs let me know. We have some good ones we give our miners....
once you figure this out can you please share with me! ugh, we are in the same boat. It's beyond me how our boxer and our three year old can take up an entire king size bed.
ReplyDeleteMy friend co slept with her baby until she was 10 months old and then just wasn't getting any sleep. The only way she broke it was serious sleep training and tough love :( I hope you find a way that works for you to break the routine and get some sleep. I'll think happy thoughts it's a quick break since this is a new habit for him not an old one!!
ReplyDeleteJackson is going through the same thing, only its more going to bed than staying in bed. What I've found that works is if we lay next to his bed until he falls asleep or if its in the middle of the night we do the same thing until he falls back asleep. This seems to work for Jackson. Even though it may not be ideal, it keeps him out of our bed! He's a crazy sleeper and none of us get any sleep when he's in our bed.
ReplyDeleteAs much as it sucks for you, what I did was get up and walk the little booger back to bed, kiss them goodnight and tell them to go to sleep. Took about a week, I think, of doing this and reminding the little one every single night that they had to stay in their bed all night long, but it finally worked and Bren stopped coming in! Back to full nights of sleep for mommy AND little one! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteawww love this
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Oh no! Clay gets to sleep in my bed only when he's sick and in the mornings after his milk while I get ready. He is a beg hog!! I know he gets it from me so I can't complain too much but when it's just me and a tiny person, how do I end up hanging off the side of the bed?
ReplyDeleteBED HOGS. i blame it on boys/men/male species.
ReplyDeleteMy kids always co-slept with me, there was always at least one child in my bed at any given time. Breaking the cycle is just about standing your ground and putting him back in his room - or so I hear...
ReplyDelete