From the Family Bed to the Toddler Bed

I must be honest and say that it was never my intention when I was pregnant to share my bed with LPP.  My initial thought on the matter was that the bed was a sacred space for the parents only and that babies should sleep in their own bed in their own space.  Which I am realizing as I type this is a little crazy because I would let Brooklyn sleep on the bed.  But then again, I could always shoo her off.  Not so with an infant.  But, as usual, I digress.

So, I wasn't planning on sharing my bed with my baby.  And then, LPP was born.  And during the first week, he slept beautifully in his bassinet.  But that was just a tease because from then on I couldn't get him to sleep in that thing for longer than 30 minutes, maybe.  The only place he'd sleep comfortably was in my arms while I sat glued to my armchair.  I was really nervous about putting him in a sling because he was so small and looked so fragile and I knew very little about slings and baby wearing, so it just never occurred to me to try it until much later (he ended up preferring carriers and wraps).  Then to add to my anxiety, K left for Europe for the better part of a year when LPP was six-weeks old, and suddenly I was faced with trying to fulfill both my and LPP's desperate need for sleep on my own. And of course, LPP usually got his sleep at the expense of mine.

After spending 3 consecutive nights sleeping in my armchair with LPP in my arms when he was about 8 weeks old, LPP's pediatrician suggested co-sleeping and nursing LPP while lying down.  And a whole world of opportunity opened up for me.  A world that included 4 hour chunks of sleep!  And the dreamy drug of waking up in the middle of the night and seeing that little face peeking up at me - what a fix. I was hooked.  LPP and I have been co-sleeping ever since.

So now LPP is 3 years old.  And I have decided to wean him from my bed to his own toddler bed, which has been just standing there in anticipation for over a year now in my bedroom.  I decorated the bed with a curtain and valance set so that it looks like a fancy lectica or palanquin - and yes, I had to look these words up; I'm talking about the fancy canopied carriers like the one Cleopatra lounged on as she was toted around by four people.  And I put glow-in the dark stars on the ceiling right above the bed, to make sleeping in the bed more enticing.  And surprisingly, it has worked.  He now sleeps in his own bed, mostly.  He will wake up and ask for me and sometimes even get up and walk over to my bed, but usually I can get him back to his bed and back to sleep fairly quickly.  I've placed a quilt on the floor beside the bed for those moments when LPP gently slips down out of bed, so that he can just slide on down to the floor and finish sleeping there (sometimes with me).

And now, I have space in my bed to stretch...and miss my LPP so very much.