Need Help Transitioning Co-sleeper to Her Bedroom

My kids all slept together. It was never a big problem because they could cuddle withone another. My mom slept with her sisters. In fact it was common in previous generations to sleep kids in the same bed and room.

C. B

What we did with our 4 year old who had the same problem was create a "bird's nest" on the floor next to our bed (sleeping bag) and told her she could come to stay in the bird's nest in the middle of the night if she needed us. Little by little we'd move the nest closer to the door and eventually told her she was too big for the nest and had to be in her own big girl bed. Over time it worked just fine and she's been in her own room since.

One of my children didn't want to "begin" sleep in the children's room, so we let her go to sleep in our bed, and would move her after she fell asleep. This worked like a charm! Other little tip for if she doesn't sleep through the night yet or wants to come back... we "set up camp" on the floor by our bed with a sleeping bag and pillow, so if a child wakes up, they are always welcome back into our room, but into their own bed. I have enjoyed the transition time of cosleeping to children's rooms with all our kids--3 down, 1 to go!

i had my oldest sleep in bed with until she was 2 it was miserable when she got bigger and when we switched her to her room and bed i slept in there for part of the night at first then told her it hurt mommys back to sleep in her bed i needed to have my own space and so did she we still let her come in in the morning for snuggles but that seamed to work but with what ever method you use stick with it i think having her in sisters room will help

For what's it's worth, here's what NOT to do! Both of my girls, 6 1/2 and 2 1/2 have been in the family bed their whole lives. I feel very strongly about not pushing them out of that nest. I want them to choose to leave on their own. In an effort to entice my 6 1/2 year old to sleep in her room, we decided to have girly sleepovers in their room. My 6 1/2 year old sleeps on the top bunk, her little sister and I share the bottom bunk. This has been going on for about 5 weeks! My husband is now spreading out onto my side of our kingsize bed! I could sneak back to my bed in the middle of the night, but my younger punkin is still nursing, and I don't want to be trudging back to her in the middle of the night. Co-sleeping is not about trekking through the house to nurse a crying youngster at all hours of the night!
So, sadly, I have no solutions for you. I have no solutions for me!
Good luck.
I guess I'll get to sleep in my bed when they're both off to college! :)
Jen

Just do it and don't draw it out or make it too big of a deal. Kids at that age don't like change. Have her decorate some of the room to what she likes with decals or something fun so she feels it is part of her.
Don't give in if she wants in your bed and even try a reward chart for every night she stays put.

My kids are 6 and 3 and share a room and I have the problem now of trying to put my daughter in her own room and she wants no part of it as she is so comforted with sleeping in the same room as her brother. I just felt it was time she has her own space and she will not have any part of it!! :)

We co-slept with our little girl as well. She actually slept in our room until she was about 2 years old. She never, ever liked her crib. What we did is made a HUGE deal about her room and her big girl bed, talking about it for about a month before we made the transition. We made it a positive thing that when she turned 2 she got her own big girl bed and her own room. I also would get her to take naps in her room for a month or two before we made the big transition. When we did make the transition, we kept to her bed time ritual, bath, teeth, read (in her new room) and then I or my husband would lay down with her. At first she would wake up about 3 times a night, but she eventually got used to it. She is now 2 and a half and sleeps through the night. Every morning I tell her what a big girl she is for sleeping in her own room. She is starting to fall asleep quicker these days and I am hoping that by the time the second one comes, due any day now, she will start not needing one of us to lay down with her. This is our next step. We have just taken it slow and been patient. It seems to be working for us. Good luck!

Start by putting her to sleep in your bed and moving her into bed with sister, it is going to take patience and consistancy, when she gets up put her back in bed with sister, rub her back a little tell her you love her and then leave. It isn't going to happen overnight but it will if you are invested enough to get it done. The first week to two weeks are the hardest, once you have her sleeping through the night you can start on getting her to sleep on her own without having to start out in momma's bed.

Dear R.,
If your 2 yr old still naps, start taking naps in her new room a few weeks before the nighttime move. Call it her room, not her sister's room, by the way. A couple of weeks before the birthday, move the bed to her room and while she still falls asleep in your bed, move her to her own bed. If she comes back during the night, keep putting her back in her own bed, with lots of hugs and kisses.

Keep talking up the birthday move to her own bed - since her bed will be in her new room, move her clothes, toys, decorate a corner as she likes it, etc. Start putting her to bed in her own room around the birthday, as a present - you are growing up now! Give a present - new sheets she's picked out, a new stuffed animal to sleep with, whatever she might like. Make sure she has her favorite sleeping music, etc.

When we moved our daughter at age 3 to her own bed, we did have to stay with her for a while till she fell asleep. Over a couple of weeks we moved from keeping a hand on her back, to sitting by the bed, to sitting by the door reading, to being out of the room completely.

take care, S.