If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you may know that’s we’re pretty outspoken co-sleepers. Before baby #2 arrived, I was, admittedly, a bit nervous about how things would work out. Would the baby constantly wake the toddler? Would the toddler start making more racket in her sleep, waking the baby? Or have massive sleep regression? With my first, I often awoke—totally panicked—worried that she wasn’t breathing. How would this all go?
As it turns out, really well!
Originally, we thought we’d replace the side-car crib (it broke) with another, and put baby in there. We wanted to be sure he was away from Gwendolyn, but she also has to be by me. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that might be setting ourselves up for failure. With our first, when 4 month sleep regression hit, she could. not. sleep. unless she were touching me. And what about my panic if I can’t feel the baby breathing?
I decided that it’d be best if we could get the super mobile toddler—and her kicky feet—out of our bed (that’d help our sleep quality, too), and into her own. That way, baby would be cozy in the winter and right by me—plus, we wouldn’t have to think about re-arranging the kids if his 4 month sleep regression went like hers did.
Todd asked why we didn’t just go for a toddler bed, and when I was looking up different ones, Gwendolyn fell in love with the house bed style. So Todd made her one.
We’re all quite content and happy this way, and are all getting pretty decent sleep, too! I haven’t once woken up in a panic, despite being slightly less stringent about my blanket usage (it’s only on the side away from baby. For co-sleeping safety, check out this post).
If you’re hoping to co-sleep with two, don’t stress about it too much. Our toddler only ever wakes up if baby’s been crying for a while (and he’s more of a grunter anyway). With a side car setup, everyone’s got the space they need.
Honestly, I’m super excited for baby to get bigger so we can all cozy up like a pile of hamsters! Plus, the cats will be happy, too, because then we can let them back in the bed.
If you want to learn more about co-sleeping, you can check it out here and here!
