See that sweet baby sleeping on my chest? That’s Zoë as a newborn. My sweet little 10 lb. 1 oz. baby girl. I can’t believe that picture was taken 5 years ago!
I have delayed writing this post because I feel like every time I say something about the girls making a positive step towards choosing independence for themselves, I jinx it and we regress. But it has been a few weeks now, so I feel comfortable saying…
Zoë now sleeps in her own bed!
She still has a toddler bed, so it’s definitely time to upgrade her to a full sized bed. She’s happy in her bed for now, but I want to reward her with a new big girl bed for making the decision all on her own that she was ready to start sleeping in her room.
There were moments where I wondered if she’d ever sleep in her own bed (she told us on many occasions she would never sleep anywhere other than in our bed). There were even more moments when people around us asked when we were going to put her in our own bed because she was getting a little old to co-sleep, wasn’t she?
We followed our intuition and allowed her to sleep with us until she no longer felt that she needed to. A few weeks ago, Zoë told me she was going to sleep in her bed that night. She did, and she has every night since.
She even made it into a bit of a comedy routine. She told me that when Daddy got home and she asked me if I had any rules about her sleeping that I was supposed to tell her that she wasn’t allowed to sleep in our room anymore.
She made that decision on her own. She decided it was time for her to take another step towards independence. And that makes me feel so proud of her. And proud of myself and Brian for listening to our hearts and following our parental instincts.
While I’ll miss her snuggles and having her close, I won’t miss the random kicks in the night. I won’t miss having the covers kicked off of me when I’m cold. And I won’t miss Zoë and Kaylee fighting over who was sleeping next to me that night.
We’re all sleeping better now. There was no need for sleep training or demands. It all came naturally just like co-sleeping did.
Kaylee is still sleeping in our bed, and I’m not convinced that she would sleep soundly through the night every night in her room just yet. So I still get those sweet co-sleeping snuggles. And I’m trying to appreciate those moments while they last – because they won’t last forever.
If you co-sleep, I encourage you to listen to your instincts and continue co-sleeping until it feels right for your child to sleep in their own bed. They really won’t sleep with you forever even though some nights – when you’re being kicked in the head and having the blankets ripped off of you – it feels like it will never end.
Happy 5th Birthday Zoë!