Now There Is 5: Co-Sleeping with your kiddos...

Can we just not judge each other on this subject?! How does it affect YOU how someone handles sleeping situations with THEIR child? I just don't understand why people have to say mean things to other parents that allow it or don't allow. If someone does not allow it, that is fine, it is their kid, their decision. If someone wants to allow it, then fine. Who cares!

With that all being said, I was that first time parent that swore I would never let my child sleep in my bed. Mainly because all those books you read tell you not to do it. Well I allowed it...early with Kenly.   Kenly slept in our bed when she was sick or if she woke up in the middle of the night. When we moved her to her toddler bed and she would get out and come to our room, I helped her up in our bed even. It was either no sleep for anyone or sleep for everyone. We then started allowing her to fall asleep in our bed by watching TV, then we would carry her to her bed. When she was 2 1/2 we found out we were expecting again. At that moment I knew before baby #2 came that I wanted her in her bed all night. We managed to get her broke of it in just a few short weeks...oh I mean months. Haha. That is right. It took a few months but we did it. She fell asleep in her bed and stayed there. Many times I was ready to pull my hair out and give up. At the time I thought how stressful is this and I would never allow this again. (That did not happen! LOL)

When Kaydee came along she had acid reflux and was very colicky. Yep...she slept in our bed from birth to a year old.   She was very easy to break of it since we started at a year old. Once she went to a toddler bed it changed and she did the same as Kenly and would get in our bed. We allowed it for a long time. Once Kenly discovered that Kaydee was doing it, we would wake up many mornings to both girls in our bed. A queen bed does not hold 2 adults and 2 kids. We were all losing sleep. After several attempts we finally were able to break Kenly of it at age 7. We tried several times with Kaydee and it took a little while but a huge thanks to the sticker chart we did it! I went to Pinterest and found a sticker chart and printed it off and bought shiny animal stickers. She would get so excited to put a sticker on for sleeping in her bed all night.

About a month after Kaydee was fully broke we found out we were expecting baby #3. I really enjoyed those 7 months of no kids in our bed. I was able to go to bed and read, watch TV and just relax till I fell asleep. Kanon came along and I said again, I will not allow him in our bed. Haha! He did sleep in a bassinet next to our bed for several months. On occasion I would put him in our bed. By the time he outgrew the bassinet I just put him in our bed. I loved him snuggling close to me. His little head would have to touch mine. Being our last baby (we think...lol) I felt the need that I need to enjoy every moment possible with him.  When he turned 6 months we started working with him on sleeping in his bed. He is now almost 8 months and goes to bed in his bed and sleeps in there almost all night, every night. He just got done with a terrible ear infection so for about a week he slept with us a lot but now that he is healthy again he is back to his bed all night.

There were many times with the girls I would get so frustrated that they were in our bed. However, now looking back, I wish I would of enjoyed it and not been so caught up in the "they need to be in their own beds." Time goes by so fast as it is and we need to slow down and enjoy the little things. I have found with Kanon that I really do enjoy the little things more and I took for granted a lot of time with the girls. Every once in a while I will ask the girls to go to bed with me and watch a movie. I enjoy that time and need to do it more. I will say it was much harder on me breaking the kids than it was on them.