My youngest son ( who is 32 now) didn't sleep all night in his own bed until he was about 4 yrs old.. When he was 3 my husband and I went on a trip for a few days and had my mother stay at the house with the 4 kids. When we were gone he went into his sister's room and slept with her. She is 9 yrs older than him.

We only had a double bed back in the late 70's & 80's so there wasn't much room. I did allow them to come in for a cuddle with me in the morning on the weekends after my then hubby (now X) got up to put coffee on. During the week we both worked so I was up at 5:30 am getting not only me ready but kids fed, clothes & diapers packed, for drop off at babysitter.

My kids slept in our bed from time to time. It was no big deal. What they liked more was sleeping with each other.

Just my cats. Roxie is a pest, she'll wake me up through the night so I can pet her. Bud sleeps right through.

Still do.

Yes on and off until about school age. I can also count the times each used a crib on the my fingers. Both slept in our bed as nursing babies. DD did the same with her two.

Sometimes. My daughter woke me one night and scared the crap out of me, just standing there, staring at me, not saying anything.

Just my daughter. She is the youngest.

She didn't necessarily want in the bed, but in the same room. Our house was the MIL plan -- kids rooms on one side of the house, master bedroom on the other. We'd wake up and she'd have made a "nest" in the floor, mostly at the foot of the bed. She'd make 2 or 3 trips dragging her blankets & all her babies across the house. And she was extremely quiet about it too! We'd wake up and there'd she'd be with all her paraphernalia, and the dogs all curled up. About age 7 she quit, unless there was a thunderstorm.

If DH was out of town sometimes my DD & DS would sleep in the bed with me. I didn't get any sleep, but they did. LOL

kathy-g, I could run the sweeper in my kids rooms when they were sleeping too! They never even wiggled!

Not a hope in heck. I didn't want to have to go through the trial of breaking that habit so we never started it or allowed it. For nursing I bought a great comfortable chair that I could almost fall asleep in that was put in their rooms so I wouldn't bring them into bed. Our first liked going to bed and loved his own bed and comforter.

We broke the rule once and that was when our youngest had really bad strep throat at around 13 months old but he was so hot we finally put him back into his own bed and he went back to sleep.

Lololol, so I started with the same mindset blfenton had, no way. I'm not going to allow it to start! They were put to bed in their own cribs every night. I would nurse them, then put them back to bed.

Then, when my oldest was 3 and a half and my second was almost two and had just transitioned to a toddler bed, I kept waking up in the morning to find a child or 2 in my bed!

How was this happening?!?

One morning, I woke up extremely early (this is VERY rare for me), rolled over and noticed no child in the bed.

I was laying there, enjoying the peace when I heard faint movement in the house.

I pretended to be asleep and watched as my oldest very carefully tiptoed into my room, ever so gingerly crawled on the bed near her daddy and snuggled up. He never even woke up.

So THAT'S what they are doing! Now tell me, how am I supposed to disallow sleeping in my bed when neither of us even wake up when they come in?!?

From then on, the rule was modified and remains in that modified state.

They MUST go to bed AND go to sleep in their own bed. IF they wake up in the middle of the night and they want to, they may come climb in bed with us.

My kids are now 7, 9, 11 and almost 13 and it is not at all uncommon for me to wake up and find one, two or even 3 in our bed!

The oldest isn't a big snuggler, never has been; but the other 3 love it.

As I said, we never wake up when they come in so I'm not certain of the timeline but I suspect that they don't really come in in the middle of the night, I think the just wake up earlier than we do and come in to snuggle for a bit before the day starts.

They love it, we love it, and we have no intention of stopping.

My favorite mornings for the past 12 years have been opening my eyes to see the blissful sleepy/ing face/s of my precious babies snuggled up next to me.

Good thing we have a king size bed!!

DD slept in her own bed most nights, when she was little occasionally when DH was away she would snuggle in the “big bed” with me. It was not an unalloyed pleasure as she was very mobile :-)

When she was teething she had very unsettled nights and I would climb into her single bed to settle her and usually fell asleep myself. When I woke up later I would slowly roll over out of the bed onto the floor on my hands and knees then crawl out quietly to avoid waking her again.

When I had nursing babies we had a waterbed so no I didn't risk baby in bed with us. Given all the restrictions these days on baby and avoiding SIDS I am amazed to hear anyone has baby in bed with them. I had three kids, and can say never once did we have a child ask to sleep in our bed or in our room. We put them to be and they stayed there until morning. Bad dreams, illnesses in the middle of the night, night terrors were not a part of their growing up. We had a few whooping cough late night episodes but that was mom hearing them struggle and waking Dad up for a trip to the hot shower then coool night air.

Just a funny story that happened over 70 years ago. I was old enough to have my own bed in my own bedroom, but my next youngest sister was in a crib in a room next to my parents. I awoke in the middle of the night, crawled into bed with my parents and fell asleep. At some point, my mother, pretty much asleep herself, must have awakened to put me back into my own bed but put me in the crib with my sister. The next morning she was (briefly) frantic because she couldn't find me.

Oldest always, youngest almost never. My youngest is not a cuddler and never has been. She couldn't wait to be put into her own crib/bed after nursing. My oldest will still crawl into bed with me when she's home for a holiday. Love 'em both, but I'm glad I have at least one cuddler.

We moved into our current house when my son was 2.5 years old and he didn't like his new bedroom. We would put him to bed in his bedroom but without fail he would be laying on the living room floor in front of the TV with his blankie the next morning. I think that lasted a couple years.

Laceyvail, I can imagine that happening!

Our DD never asked to sleep with us and we never encouraged it. The only time she needed attention during the night was when she was actually being sick -- thankfully a rare occurrence. Thunderstorms didn't phase her and she never appeared to have bad dreams.

Same as wildchild. Our daughter slept with us until about school age. Also was nursed. I was given a crib at her baby shower by the girls who gave the shower. They also gave me bottles. I had told them I was going to nurse and the baby would sleep with me. They said I would change my mind....I didn't. I exchanged the crib for baby clothes.

I am a very light sleeper and I wake up fast....never groggy. I always was aware that she was there.

oldest, very rarely... she was a sound sleeper, loved to sleep and loved her crib. still a big sleeper

middle child, OMG horrible sleeper since birth, thought there was something wrong with him. he would wake in the middle of the night, come into our room, stand and stare at me, then run back to his room (he was about 2-21/2). every night between 2-3:30. this went on for about 6-9mos...pediatrician gave us a strategy to break that cycle (it worked)!! always up by 6:00. would get up, go downstairs, get a bowl of cheerios (dry) turn on TV and watch sesame street all by himself, about 3 yrs old. short naps, the list goes on. but he rarely slept with us only when sick and not all the time. still an early riser and does not require much sleep

youngest, very good sleeper - stay in crib/bed. she would have night terrors and just scream in her crib., that was awful. lasted about a year, had about 5 incidents. very rarely if ever slept with us. still loves to sleep!

pediatrician not a proponet of sleeping with parents. and we did not want it either. they knew it was not the norm by any stretch. only when sick or a major thunder & lightening storm, bad dreams would bring them into our room...

DS was a sound sleeper. Bedroom doors were closed at night from the time he slept through the night.

I was shocked by one couple I knew who 'didn't want to be disturbed in the mornings'. They locked their two kids (baby and toddler) into a bedroom with a potty seat. The eldest was four when I knew them. Unsafe? *Weird*? They were very *rigid* people. I was not surprised to learn that she killed herself. She sat in a running car in a closed garage -- beneath her teen daughter's bedroom. The girl survived.

Never, I sleep so lightly that even having them in the room kept me awake

Just our tiny little dog. But she likes to stretch out as far as possible so that she can touch both of us. She is so funny. She loves to be under the covers. She gets hot and comes clawing her way out from the covers and just flops down on top enjoying the breeze from the fan.

No, our kids were asked to stay in their rooms except for problems that couldn't wait until the morning. We made an exception for nightmares or other things causing illness or one to be scared. Nothing else. It was a rare occurrence.

Dogs or other pets in our bed? Heavens no. Dogs have always had their own sleeping places near our bed but on the floor. None have ever been allowed even ON our beds during the daytime, nor on any human furniture.

Something is up with GW. I have thanked everyone, but when I leave and come back to the page no one has been thanked. Honestly, thank you everyone!

HOUZ gremlins at work here!

My daughter didn't. She was a super sound sleeper always; I also could vacuum in her room while she was napping without waking her. In fact, once we were on the way to the pediatrician b/c she had a sinus infection - she fell asleep in the car on the way, and continued to sleep soundly through the entire visit, even as the doc looked into her nose, ears and throat!

When she woke in the mornings (once she learned to climb out of her crib) she would usually play in her room for some time before coming out - this on my days off work, of course.

raee, our son slept through his one-year-old well visit...including a vaccination!