Breaking the Co-Sleeping Habit in Your Bedroom
Allowing your child to sleep in your bedroom is very much a matter of personal
choice. Medical professionals do recommend that babies sleep in their parent's
room until they are six months old to reduce the risk of cot death. However,
parents often find that babies and young children who do co-sleep take much
longer before they will sleep through the night and it is very difficult to get
them into their own rooms (or sometimes bed).
Although having little direct experience of co-sleeping, I set about researching
the subject some years ago to help out a client who was struggling to get her
two year old to sleep in her own bed. After working with a number of families here
are the strategies that work best.
- Be upbeat and if the child is old enough to understand start by telling her
she's old enough to sleep in her own room for the whole night, and you and
Dad will help her learn how.
- Establish and stick to a bedtime routine.
- Give your child a comforter that she can use herself.
- Put your child in bed awake. Full details of the reasons for doing this and
effective strategies to make it work are outlined in
The Baby Sleep System.
- If your child cries and will not go to sleep or wakes in the night do not
let her get in your bed. Be resolute. Your child will eventually adjust to the
fact that this is the way she sleeps now.
- Children as young as 2 will divide and conquer when they think they can. So
it's crucial that both mother and father present a united front.
The strategies set out above, if implemented properly work well. There is
much more information about them in the
The Baby Sleep System.
Good luck!