I know that I have mentioned before that we are co-sleepers. If you had asked me 2 years and 1 week ago if we would share our bed with our child, I would have said no. But co-sleeping has become a part of parenting that I enjoy.
First, even though we are sleeping, it's time together as a family. With Hubby in grad school plus working, Ladybug and I don't get to see much of him some days. Especially now that he has started his (unpaid) internship. He has several 12+ hour days each week.
Second, it allows us to get more sleep. Ladybug has been night weaned for well over a year, so she doesn't wake to nurse. But she can be a restless sleeper and if she wakes up in the middle of the night, we are right there to soothe her back to sleep without having to get up.
As much as I love to snuggle with my girlie on the nights when Hubby is either working late or studying, she getting a little big to be sharing our queen size bed with us.
We took down the crib a while ago. We had only been using it for containment purposes anyway, and Ladybug learned how to climb out of it. In its place, we have been using the pack-n-play for times when LB needs to be contained, like when I need to shower and Hubby is not home.
We moved the crib mattress into our bedroom and have been telling LB that it is her bed. She played on it some, took one nap on it, then wanted nothing to do with it. That was several months ago. So we leaned the crib mattress up against the bookshelf so that no one would trip on it (not that anyone did, and not that anyone had a large bruise on her face because of tripping and falling).
Just this week (after her godmother asked how the sleeping was going), Ladybug wanted to play on her bed again. Every night this week, she has started out sleeping (willingly!) in her own bed and stayed there for a few hours. She has also taken her naps this week on her own bed.
So we are making progress! I do love snuggling with Ladybug and having her close, but I also look forward to not being a contortionist while I try to sleep! My back and neck looks forward to that too!
Once Ladybug begins sleeping all night on her own mattress, we'll look into getting her a "big girl" bed for her room.
I'm happy that the transition has been so easy for all of you so far. Many parents avoid co-sleeping simply because they are afraid they'll never get the kids out of their bed. You're lucky in that you got to enjoy sleeping with her for the first few years, but you are not battling to get her out of your bed now. I hope it keeps going so well!
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