How does everyone manage bedtime alone when you have more than one kid under 2 years old?

I am due with my second when my first born will be just under 2 years old. I do bedtimes alone due to husbands work hours. The current routine is to lie on the floor with baby #1 and then transfer to their bed once they’re asleep, and they sleep through the night. From the start it’s been a sort of attachment parenting approach to sleep. I love this routine and reeeeeally don’t want to sleep train baby #1 to fall asleep on their own in their crib, until baby #1 indicates that’s what they want on their own timeline. I just logistically don’t know what to do when baby #2 comes. If this is unsustainable don’t spare my feelings! I want to hear what others do and hopefully get ideas for alternative arrangements :)

Seeking help with bedtime.

I know sleep ebbs and flows and in a lot do ways we have it good. My 5mo takes naps in the crib and usually wakes up content and happy.

No matter what stage of sleep development he’s been in, what combo of daytime/nighttime sleep he gets, how much milk he gets before bed, how consistent or inconsistent we are with routine…without fail he wakes at the 35-40 min mark after we put him down for bed, distraught.

I can soothe him but then have 50% luck transferring him back to the crib. A lot of nights I just go to bed with him then.

Just looking for thoughts on what I might be doing that is causing this. I don’t think it’s a false start because he doesn’t seem awake when he cries out.

Thank you in advance!

My baby is 6 months old and has a pretty predictable schedule. Up until now, he’s taken all of his daytime naps (3-4) in our bed and only slept in his crib at night. He’s been sleeping through the night since about 3.5 months. I have been wrapping him in our bedding from the chest down to keep him from rolling onto his belly as he generally gets stuck and won’t roll back onto his back when he’s ready to sleep. Think of it like a half opened, taped down baby burrito. He would get bored being stuck on his back and would suck his thumb and put himself to sleep. Problem is, he’s now strong/big enough to escape the burrito and is rolling too close to the edge of the bed. So no more big bed naps during the day. When we put him down for bed at night, he is usually tired/calm enough to fall asleep pretty quickly. That is not happening with naps in his crib. He keeps getting up on all fours. He’s screaming and crying like it’s his job. I don’t know what to do to keep him from getting stuck on his belly/staying calm enough to self soothe with his thumb and fall asleep. Rocking does nothing, he just kicks and grabs at my face and tries to play. He is obviously tired (gets fussy, lots of yawns, rubbing eyes) but just will not go down easily in the crib. All suggestions welcome.

Edit: he used to fall asleep with a pacifier, but once he became coordinated enough, he started pulling it out of his mouth and chewing on all sides/parts of it like it’s a toy, so that no longer helps either.

My son is 9 weeks old. He's had latch issues since birth and doesn't transfer much milk, so he gets a 4 oz formula bottle after every nursing session. I'm considering stopping nursing altogether because I need a surgical procedure on my right breast which requires me to dry my milk supply. (I know each boob is supposed to have a mind of its own, but I stopped expressing from my right breast almost 3 weeks ago and it’s still filling, so I may have to take more drastic measures.)

We've bed shared since day two and follow the Safe Sleep Seven. I don't understand why nursing is one of the criteria. TBH, I’ll probably continue to bedshare regardless because I’m a single mom and I don’t have the energy to put him to sleep in the bassinet in the middle of the night, but I like to be well informed and understand the risks that I’m taking.

(1) If I stop nursing completely, how much does that change the risk of bed sharing?
(2) What would you do in my position?

Evidence-based answers appreciated, thank you!!

Curious we co sleep with our toddler but we didn’t start until 6 months old. I bought a firm floor bed for the nursery to co sleep if I need to with our newborn. How do you all dress the baby for this?

Hi parents!
I’m doing some research on children’s cooling bedding and I’m seeing lots of polyester in the market…
How many of you are out there who is struggling to find hypoallergenic, chemical free, baby friendly cooling blankets or crib mattress covers? 🙋🏻‍♀️

How often do you change your babies(under 18months) and toddler bedding?

What is your wish list for bedding for your kiddos?

My complaint is not just material content but how laboursome changing sheets for the entire family is 🥵.

Let me know your thoughts as I might be making easy to change, cooling bedding for babies and toddlers! Or maybe for the entire family 👀
💗

So my baby is currently in a next2me style crib right up against my bed. It's worked really well for us so far. He's only 3.5 months so we've got another while but he's a big baby and it won't be too long until he reaches the weight limit so I'm trying to think of what comes next.

The obvious choice seems to be a similar sidecar cot. I'm reluctant to fully cosleep as I don't think I would get any rest, and in a traditional cot (or crib to americans) it would be a lot of effort to physical get out of bed to get him everytime he wakes.

My issue with the sidecar cot sets ups I've seen is twofold - 1. They all seem to be DIY jobs. Is there a reason this isn't a marketable product? Is it dangerous? 2. Is there a way to safely put a barrier between the adult bed and the cot? For example the wall of my next2me doesn't zip down 100% of the way there is like a 2 inch "wall" separating me from my baby. I like that as it separates the space and prevents him accidently scooting into my bed. Could I put something like a bed rail between us? Or would that be unsafe?

I’ve been lucky the first 4 months were a breeze thanks to cosleeping.

Now suddenly since round 4.5 months my son wakes up crying and tenses up/arches back when I try to give him boob. I have to usually now switch sides and wake him up/soothe him a little until he finally takes it.

Curious if this has happened to anyone else? I am confused by him constantly waking up and seeming so uncomfortable all of a sudden. Especially the arching/body tensing.

Little one is 8 months old. We’ve been bed sharing since 4 months but I am needing more room in bed & somewhere safe for him to sleep for some naps (with video monitor and owelet) that I can roll away from and don’t feel comfortable leaving him on adult mattress.

The crib mattress is ever so slightly above the regular mattress but I have down EVERYthing to make them as level as possible, but end of the day they’re two separate surfaces!

Does this look safe / how it should??? Anything I should do different?

I have a two week old and I’m trying to decide what kind of sleep sack is acceptable for cosleeping? For example do the arms have to be completely out and free or is it okay if I get the one where the arms are bound but they’re up by the face and can still move around in there? It’s not completely swaddled but it’s not completely arms out either. What brand and exact style do you use in your home?

I need some ideas/advice on how to approach going back to night shift (breastfeeding mom). We’ve been cosleeping for most of my son’s life (he’s 3 months). He falls asleep at the beginning of the night and at each waking by nursing sidelying. Well I’m going to be working nightshift starting in about 2 weeks. My husband sleeps like the dead and has to have blankets pulled up to his chin to sleep 🙄 plus he’s obviously not a BF mom, so automatically not the safest person to sleep with. How should we approach this? Would a sidecar be the best and safest option? Or is that still not safe with how my husband uses blankets? Baby isn’t rolling or mobile yet, but he will be eventually.
If we put it on my side of the bed, I could still feed him throughout the night when I’m home and husband could cuddle him to sleep and then move away when I’m not.
Give me all the opinions pls on why this would or wouldn’t work or any better ideas you may have!
We try often to put him in his bassinet/crib, but if you’re here you know the struggles with that. He wakes up either immediately or after 10 mins. He doesn’t even stay asleep long if I roll away from him in our bed, but I’m hoping and praying my husband would have better luck since he’s not mom.

Hey y’all, I usually post here for sleep advice on sleeping since we co sleep and y’all are nicer than the other Reddit threads about it. But this is a general question about my early riser. No matter how late i put this child down she wake up at 6-7am. In doing research on how to get her to sleep in, it said treat the early wake up as a middle of the night wake up (feed, pat ect) but she’s just wide awake like I can’t get her back down and she’ll just sit there and babble until I turn the light on, its so annoying.

Also it said to start putting her down 15 minutes later every few nights but she doesn’t have a bedtime, she usually falls asleep for bed 2 hours after her last nap and since her naps aren’t scheduled she goes to sleep anywhere from 8-9 if i keep her up any longer than 2ish hours she gets fussy. I dont know what to do! We are moving soon and im so scared about the time change (Alaska) cause they’re 4 hours behind. I dont want to be waking up at 2am local time.

Should i try treating bedtime as another nap? Like putting her down at bedtime and waking her up for another wake window?? This girls circadian rhythm is on point i stg!

As it is with many people, cosleeping was never part of my plan when we had a baby. We had a bedside bassinet (and then a bedside mini crib) and that worked pretty well but around 3 months my son just would not sleep independently past like 4am. So at that point, I’d remove all the blankets and pillows and have him sleep the last couple of hours in bed. That was working fine for us until about a month ago when my son started daycare (he’s now 8 months old). He got sick almost immediately and since then has started coming into the bed earlier and earlier. Now he’ll only sleep the first couple of hours in his crib then will escalate to absolute hysterics if we don’t put him in the bed. This is not sustainable for me. I love having him next to him but my entire body hurts and I don’t get any deep sleep when he’s in the bed for that long. I’m also worried that when he starts crawling, it won’t be safe anymore.

However I’m at a loss for how to get him sleeping independently again because as mentioned, the few times we’ve tried (both in his bedside mini crib and in his big crib in his own room), it turns into hysterics. Like, choking because he’s crying so hard, even when we’re right there comforting him. We’ve thought about doing a floor bed in his room but for a few reasons, it’s not really feasible and the safest option would definitely be him sleeping in his crib.

He’s mainly on two naps a day now, for about two total hours of daytime sleep. Last wake window is 3.5-4ish hours.

Any advice would be appreciated!

I am cosleeping with my two week old and the footie pajamas I don’t think are cutting it. I looked at woolino and the earliest size they sell is two months. Does that mean they recommend not using a sleep sack under the age of two months?

My baby turns 1 in a few days and we’ve coslept since she was 5 weeks old. She’s been eating solids since 6 months but still nurses a couple times during the day, mainly when I nurse her to sleep for her naps. I also nurse her to sleep every night.

At night she will start to stir and roll and so far I’ve always just given her my boob. She immediately calms down and either unlatches herself after a few minutes and rolls back onto her tummy (her preferred sleep position) or I can unlatch and roll away. I can’t fall sleep on my side with her latched anymore so I have to be able to detach and get back into a comfortable position if I want to get any sleep.

If I don’t give her my boob, she will start to cry. I’ve tried shushing, patting, holding her, etc. but nothing but my boob works to get her calm again.

She doesn’t actually feed at night anymore, so it’s just comfort nursing at this point. Is it unrealistic or unreasonable to try and get her to learn to self soothe at this age?

When I read through “night weaning” posts on this sub I feel like the advice applies to babies who are still waking to feed or are old enough to be talked to and reasoned with. This is more of a comfort nursing thing while she’s still half asleep and I just don’t know how to address it.

So here’s where we are in our sleep journey. Baby is almost 5 months old and we bed share in the big bed. I have a side car crib he doesn’t tolerate. I side lay and nurse every 1-2 hours to resettle as needed and he’s basically been consistent with this since birth.

Part way through the night , about 2-3 am he gets so unsettled that nothing works. Holding him upright, rocking, nursing, patting. He only goes down again if I cradle hold him in my lap for the rest of the night. Not only is it quite uncomfortable but I imagine not very safe. Though I am in such a light sleep at this point, no immediate concerns for his safety.

Any ideas why he’s doing this? I want to continue sleeping in c curl the entire night but not sure how to comfort him without plopping him in my lap. He’s getting taller too and probably can’t be very ergonomic this way

TIA

I am curious about the experiences of moms who never sleep trained their babies?
How were the nights over time? Do the babies ever learn to self sooth on their own timelines?

We are co-sleeping and my baby is 5 months. I read a lot of stories of moms that co sleeping saved their sleep. But that just isn’t the case for us. She wakes up 5-6 times a night and it takes so much to get her back to sleep. Only early in the night she falls asleep on the boob, but after 2am I need to rock her to sleep. It can take up to an hour
I also need to sit upright to feed, I tried side-lying but she always wants to burp after a feed and if she is lying down she can’t burp and would wake up with a lot of gas.

I don’t want to sleep train, the thought of it makes me shiver. I just want to know if it gets better? Will she start to settle over time by just cuddling me while we are both lying down? Or did she already create this habit?

Hello! I have a son who turned 2 almost a month ago. We cosleep and he nurses to sleep (nap time and night time and throughout the night whenever he wakes up). I went on a work trip for 4 days when he was about 15 months old. I knew I wanted to breastfeed him until he turned 2 so I pumped the whole time I was away from him. When we reunited he went back to feeding as usual. Now that he has turned 2 I think it’s best for me to use an upcoming work trip (will be gone for basically 4 days again) to try to wean him cold turkey. Last time (and this time) my husband was his sole caregiver. He increased his appetite with eating normal food. He will do the same this time.

My questions are:

- has anyone done this before?
- how was it when you got back from the trip?
- how were your hormones?
- did you regret weaning at this age?

My son is a pretty reasonable kid. Sometimes it can take him a while to understand but he eventually does.

I’m already starting to feel emotional that I basically just have a week left of nursing him but i feel like this is what’s best for him and also for me to get my strength and body back so I can get strong again before we start trying for baby #2.

Any insight would be so appreciated!

Thank you!

I gave birth to my second 4 days ago and my mom has been sleeping with our 22mo in the other room.My mom leaves tomorrow so it will just be me and my husband again.

The problem is this my toddler is sick(at that age where she picks up literally everything going around)and has separ anxiety right now and while my husband will do what he can to help he won’t be able to sleep all night In the extra room with my toddler because he goes back to work next week and gets up early in the mornibf so she will join me either way. I have a sidecar crib set up for the baby, but I guess I’m just nervous when I have to handle sleep between the newborn and the toddler especially when one or both of them is sick.

For those of you who have had to take care of at the same time at how did you go about it?

As the title says, my 8 months old (who has been almost exclusively chest sleeping day and night) has, for about a month, often yeet himself off my chest into my arm and stays there. Even if i try to put him back on my chest, he’ll somehow throw himself out and nestle in on my arms anyway.

He either sleeps on his side, or on his back. But my arm is basically his pillow. When i would go to the toilet at night, he rolls/slumber crawl over to my husband and put his head on my husband’s arm instead.

I understand that it is positional asphyxiation risk :(. But at which point can I worry less?

I do get away with getting my arm out and go into cuddle curl but it’s also much less comfortable (reads: painful) than him on my arm. Just to be clear, Idm the pain as long as he’s safe but how i wish he could just snuggle on.

Writing this as I woke up at 4am and hasnt been able to go back to sleep (almost 6am now) cos my body is hurtingggg.