Baby Sleep Arrangements – Montessori, Co-sleep

babysleep

Most families start out with a bassenette, sidecar or moses basket. We got the co-sleeper sidecar. It was used for maybe a week and then we c0-slept. Here’s the recommended setup for co-sleepers:

cosleep

We did all of this, except we kept a pad on the bed since my hips felt like they were falling apart. We also didn’t put the bed on the floor. Then one night I noticed Lou crawling in her sleep. she was crawling towards the wall, thank goodness, so the next morning we put the bed on the ground.

It was one of the best things we’ve done.

bedfloor2

With Ero we started him out the Montessori way. We still had Lou co-sleeping, and I decided I wasn’t going to have an all-night-nurser again. Here’s what Montessori recommends:

bedmontessori

We didn’t do the moses basket because my mom said they are heavy and a pain and not worth the money. I didn’t get one so I don’t know if she was right.

We tried the 3-10 Montessori setup for Ero’s first 5 months, but it didn’t work for us. He was an all-night-nurser anyways. So he became a co-sleeper too.

bedfloor

Either way, it’s been great having the master bed and the little kids beds on the floor. Lou is sleeping in her bed now and Ero will sleep next to her in his bed when he hits 18 months.

I love the way, every day, we play on those beds. Running up and down the hall, crashing into the pillows, puffing up the blankets to be squashed, rolling off…

bedtoes

Good times.

emily

January 25th, 2010 at 2:22 pm

hi. my now toddler has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor from the very beginning. She still is not sleeping through the night and now it is really having a toll on me. Any recommendations?
she is now 16 months.
any advice is welcomed!
thanks!
Emily

Vanessa

January 25th, 2010 at 9:25 pm

That’s the same age as my son. I’ll assume she’s waking up to nurse, if not I am not sure what to do.

I read so many books and really the thing that worked for us was just to wait for 18 months with our first and 16 months for our second. This sums up what I read before: http://www.kellymom.com/bf/weaning/weaning-night.html

“With an older child (over 18 months), feel secure enough to say “no” (at least some of the time) while staying sensitive to your child’s needs. At night, you might say, “not now, but we will later.” She may – or may not – awaken again to nurse later.”

But the best advice for us was what Dr. Sears recommended here: http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/t070800.asp

“8. “Nummies go night-night.”
Now the marketing begins. Around eighteen months, your child has the capacity to understand simple sentences. Program your toddler not to expect to be nursed when she awakens, such as “We’ll nurse again when Mr. Sun comes up.” When you nurse her to sleep (or have the first or second night nursing) the last thing she should hear is “Mommy go night-night, Daddy go night-night, baby go night-night, and nummies go night- night” (or whatever she dubs her favorite pacifiers). When she wakes during the night the first thing she should hear is a gentle reminder, “Nummies are night- night. Baby go night-night, too.” This program may require a week or two of repetition. Soon she will get the message that daytime is for feeding and nighttime is for sleeping. If “nummies” stay night-night, baby will too — at least till dawn.”

We said “Nursing goes night night” because that’s what they understood best for us. It took about a week, but it was really only hard the first night. And as most sites say, the toddler is just angry, not scared. Also, it’s dark here in the mornings so we couldn’t say when the sun comes up. I imagine night weaning in summer is easier.

Just know you have arrived. You made it all the way to 16 months with horrible sleep and are about to get a full 8 hours straight. It will shock you when it happens. Sure my 16 month old still wakes me up at 6 am, but he went from waking up every hour to nurse to sleeping 7:30pm-6am straight within two weeks. Sometimes he stirs and my spidey-mom senses wake me, but he’s fast asleep.

Please feel free to ask more here or at vanessa@gluesky.com – I’m off to bed at 9:30 since my boy wakes me up so very, very early.

Edit: I just realized you commented on the montessori post. I just wrote on night weaning here: http://www.gluesky.com/2010/01/weaning-the-all-night-nurser-co-sleeper-toddler/

Baby Sleep Arrangements – Montessori, Co-sleep

2 comments to Baby Sleep Arrangements – Montessori, Co-sleep

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