Thank you to everyone who offered advice on sleeping children in the same room!!! I am happy to say that the transition went well. The first night took 2 hours for them to fall asleep, the second night took 1 hour, the third night took 30 minutes, and the 4th night took 15 minutes. Not so bad! James often wakes up when I come in to feed Kate at night, but he just stands up in his crib and looks at me. I keep my back to him. We are both silent. When I come back in from feeding Kate he is almost always asleep again. Yes, I do leave the room to feed Kate. I don't want to push my luck. I have not tried napping them together. Kate naps in our room while James naps in the kid room.
Sometimes James goes to bed first and sometimes Kate goes to bed first depending on the night. (Their bedtime is at the same time, but one will typically get laid down first--Jordan gets James down for the night while I take care of Kate). At first I tried to nurse Kate in the kids' room while James was trying to go to sleep...bad idea. He just wanted to chit-chat. It was way too tempting for him. So now I nurse Kate in our room and then bring her into the kids' room to lay her down. I usually walk in to a little boy happily playing. So, I help him lay back down and replace his blanket and then they go to sleep. When Kate goes to bed first, Jordan and James read, pray, and sing a song in the living room. Then James is prepped on being so very quiet and sneaky, so that Kate can't even hear them enter the room. He's laid down and they go to sleep. Sometimes they play for a time, sometimes Kate fusses for a time, but usually they go right to sleep.
From my experience, it seems that you do just need to bite the bullet and put them in together. They adjust to each other. And they love to be together. Some nights I think it helps them go to sleep. James usually tries to be a big helper and be quiet when we bring Kate in. So, I think it helps him to get in a sleep mode rather than a play-in-my-crib-with-my-bunny-until-I-crash mode.
Again, thanks for the advice!
4 comments:
Natasha I am DREADING THIS! I will have to check your blog to keep getting encouragement periodically. Our kids won't have to sleep in the same room till the baby is like 6 months..... but I'm still dreading it! ahh! Glad that it is going well for you guys!!!
Aww they are both so cute, Cant believe how big James is getting to be hard to believe he was just a baby when you moved.
YES! You are victorious! I knew you could do it :)
This is very encouraging to read! Maybe we can have another baby before we get a new place. I was going to tell Scott I'd give him another child when he bought me a new house. ;)
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