Baby E doesn’t sleep in our bed anymore… wooohoo! I’m a huge fan of co-sleeping which is having your baby in his own cot but in the same room as you but not a fan of bed sharing even though it makes it easier to feed your child in the middle of the night without being fully up. Incase you missed The Mummy Tag my son was sleeping with us in the bed and it was a habit that we were trying to stop. We successful stopped this month. We managed to transition from bed sharing to co-sleeping and have the bed all to ourselves again.

When my son was a newborn I wouldn’t dare think about sleeping with him in the same bed because he was so small and everything seemed like it could hurt him (the pillows, the duvet, me, my husband). People say that when you become a mother the motherly instinct kick in and you could never roll over your child but never the less it was something I was scared off especially that in the first few days after having the baby I was sleep deprived so whenever I slept I went into deep sleep. When Baby E was a newborn we used a bassinet, which I loved. I put the bassinet really close to my side of the bed and it felt that we were almost bed sharing without any risks of having him in the bed with us.

Months passed and my munchkin outgrew his bassinet and needed to move to his cot. I used to wake up every 2 hours to feed him and out of sheer laziness and being an exhausted new mom I moved him from his cot into the bed. He loved it, I loved it and he even started waking up less at night. I was more confident about having him in the bed because he wasn’t rolling yet and also I had a few months of motherhood under my belt.

I would put Baby E in his cot and once he wakes up for his feed; I would feed him then change him and put him next to me in the bed and he would fall a sleep immediately. We did this every night and it started becoming a habit. If I put him in his own cot after feeding him he wouldn’t fall back asleep and he would keep us awake unless I put him in bed next to me.

Fast forward he was 8 months and still in bed with us, he would sleep in his cot but when he wakes up for his feed (he’s still not sleeping through the night!) he would want to sleep in the big bed. However, now he was rolling and crawling which made bed sharing more risky. The safest place for him is his cot and not the bed unless both my husband and I are with him in the bed or unless we are wide awake to watch over him.

A week shy of turning 9 months we decided that he will be sleeping in his own cot in our room and that we will no longer make him sleep in the bed. This means both his naps and his night sleep. It was a big step! We started and surprisingly my son doesn’t seem to be annoyed by sleeping in his cot. He sleeps similar hours now to the hours he slept when we were bed sharing. He only gets frustrated when he wakes up and finds himself in his cot. As soon as he wakes up he wants to get out of his cot and start his morning; who could blame him.

We decided and moved him to his cot “cold turkey”. We anticipated sleepless night during this change but we were pleasantly surprised. Now finally mummy and daddy can enjoy tossing and turning in bed without our little peanut sleeping in the middle. I feel like this is such an accomplishment.

Here is to little milestones that I never knew existed like my child sleeping all night in his own cot!