Moving Toddler Out

[Kris]

What point did your toddler move to own room? How did you do it? I still rock Emma to sleep at 21 months what point does that stop and how?

Ok I don't necessarily want to do this as it still works for us but I can't imagine she will still be rocked to sleep at 7 years old and sleeping with us so just looking for peoples experiences

[Jillian]

Obviously I don't have personal experiences, but I can tell you how it worked for other people I know.

We have family friends who co-slept with their first till she was 6 and their second till he was 4. With the girl she was rocked to sleep probably for the first 2 1/2 years, then she asked to stop and they stopped, then at around 6 years she asked to sleep in her own room, so they bought her a bed. With the boy they rocked him for 3-3 1/2 years till he wanted to stop, they moved him out of their room though when the dad had to go through Chemo treatments, so because of that he didn't get to choose for himself, he did move from his parents room to his sister's room for awhile before being willing to sleep in his own room and his own bed around 5 or 5 1/2 years old.

We, right now, plan to rock Janelle (and Kincaid if he ever comes!)till she doesn't want to be rocked and let her sleep with us till she wants to sleep by herself. Our ped said that in his experience that *most* kids move by themselves at around 6 years old.

[MelissaM]

I agree with Jillian.

William was rocked up until he was around three...then I sat on the end of his bed and sang to him ...which I actually still do to this day and he is now nine. I am assuming that within the next few years he will ask me to stop doing that :lol:

Jacob is still in our room as well, and I will be rocking him until he is too big to be in my arms - he is my last baby and I am going to milk it for everything it is worth! :lol:

[chefkath]

I don't have any personal experience to share - Brigit still sleeps with us at 2 1/2 years of age and shows no signs of leaving soon, which is fine with me. :) But I can tell you about two older co-sleeping kids I know.

First, my 4 1/2 year old niece. She co-slept until age 4. My sister and BIL bought her a bed for her fourth birthday and she started asking to sleep in it right away. She'd sleep in it for the first few hours each night, and then get up and move into her parents' bed. Gradually over 6 months she slept in her bed more and more, and now she sleeps in her bed about 80% of the time. So it's still a work in progress, but it's going great.

Second, the 6 year old son of friends. He didn't show any indication of wanting to move out of the family bed until just before his 6th birthday. But when he decided it was time, IT WAS TIME! RIGHT NOW!! :lol: He asked for his own bed, they got it for him, and he started sleeping in it right away. His mom slept in it with him for the first few nights, and then on and off for the next month or so. But now (about 7 months later) he sleeps in his bed all night most of the time. (Every now and then he'll still wake up and come to his parents' bed - but I think all kids do that sometimes if they're allowed to.)

Hope that helps a little :)

[Faye]

I co-slept with my son until 4 years old and I didn't mind it at all. With my daughter she has to have me in bed with her to go to sleep and sometimes I sleep there all night and other nights just a little bit of the night or early morning but she doesn't like me in bed with her all night long, I will wake her up usually if I'm in there. I think whatever works best for your family is what you should do. :) Have you tried just starting to go lay down with your daughter in her own bed at night and leaving her there once she is fast asleep? I started that with Emily right around the time she turned 1 and we've been doing that ever since. I highly doubt our children will want us in the bed with them past about the age of 3 or 4, but I'm sure that just depends on the child :biggrin:

[Kris]

Yep I doubt Emma will be leaving our bed soon. A friend asked me when I would move her to own room and I said when she is ready to and they asked what age I thought that would be and I said age 6

[Jayne]

Tylor moved to his own room at age 5. He always slept with me and I loved it..but when he was 5 1/2 we moved into our own home..and when I asked him where he would like to sleep he asked to have his own room. So we made it special. He and I went out and got some paint..he picked out what he wanted...a boarder and some stencils..and he helped me paint his room. He has been in it ever since and I am so proud of him

My daughter on the other hand wanted her own room from day one. She didn't sleep well in our bed so we had the crib in our room. .but after a while we decided to try her out in her own room and well she hasn't slept with us since. I think each child is different and what works for one doesn't usually work for the other.

Jayne

[ChristiH]

Well Miss Jordan is doing well sleeping in her bed next to ours. I think we are going to wait until we get moved and her room all done and then see if she'll sleep in there =)

[Brandi]

Carter sleeps in our room right now (in his own bed) and I am hoping to get him into his own room VERY SOON! Baby #2 is due in August so, I would like to have a couple of months at least before baby comes to deal with this transition. I would think of possibly letting him come into our room sometime during the night and gradually work his way into sleeping in his own room for the whole night. BUT, our rooms are on the second floor, and we can't put a gate up at the top of the stairs. It's never been a problem before, but I just don't think that we can let him walk from his room to ours at night when chances are much greater that he could fall down the stairs. (Our bedroom is right next to the stairway.)

I think we will gate him in his room. In a way, I really hate to do this because I don't want him thinking that we are locking him in there, but I'm not sure what my choices are. I also don't know exactly how we will be in there with him when he goes to sleep. Right now, we lay in our bed and he either lays in his bed, or he comes over and lays on the floor right next to our bed. We could probably sit up in the glider that is in his room. I just don't know how it's going to work out. I have a feeling it's not going to be easy!

The other thing I don't know about is what we will do when he cries out for us at night. Currently, he does this very seldomly so it's not really an issue. But, I bet it will be moreso when he knows we aren't in his room with him.

Good luck with your move!