Do you prefer co-sleeping with your child?

There are three bedrooms in this house, and three people who live in it - The Seniol, Lil' General and I. But all of us sleep in the same bedroom. I've read on numerous blogs and often seen shows on TV encouraging toddlers to sleep in the kids' room/nursery, right from when they are only a few months old to be monitored through the night with the aid of a baby monitor.

Considering that I've never stayed away from LG for more than two hours at a stretch since his birth, it is only natural that I have my reservations letting him sleep alone in another room. He is barely eighteen months old - he has his whole life ahead to do what he wants once he moves away from us to establish his own identity - moving to a room of his is one of the biggest and first step I see in making his own space. I sound so much like a clingy mother, ain't I? Generally, parents complain of kids being clingy but here it is the stark opposite.

We have a double bed arrangement to accommodate LG. My mom got him into the habit of giving him a lot of space to sleep around when he was born. When he was 3 months old, he learned how to roll around from one end of the bed to another pushing everything (read: me, my mother) on the way. LG was a colicky baby who gave us a hard time so mom slept with LG and I to help me put him to sleep through the night. The habit that was formed then of defining his territory has stayed on till date.

We have a queen sized mattress on the floor, at the foot of our queen-sized cot that we sleep in. LG sleeps on the mattress on the floor ever since the great fall last year. It's big enough to accommodate three of us - two adults and a child, but not if the child is a roller coaster as LG is. When we tuck him in at 9:00 p.m. in the far extreme left, by midnight he has reached the far extreme right sometimes hitting his head on the floor only to wake up and either scream or reposition himself. There is a fortress of pillows which is of no good use for the 4*4 path that LG takes. I believe couples who let their kids sleep in another room by themselves do so for privacy reasons and appreciate the space. For us, it's the guilt. Even if I can get myself to do it, I doubt The Seniol will be who loves waking up atleast two or three times in the middle of the night to tuck LG in - who hates taking a blanket over him and wrestles himself out of it in minutes. The struggle continues - The Seniol covering, LG removing - until one of them gives up exhausted.

On second thoughts, I think it's time to let LG sleep on his own too at bedtimes. Either of us is around until he sleeps before we walk out of the room to join him a few hours later.

With The Seniol going away for an year, I find it hard to do the transition of moving him to another room and sleeping by myself. Every night the past week, LG has been waking up sometime between 1:00 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. and screaming/crying inconsolably that just has us believe he was scared of something. A stroll outside the room is what calms him. I can't imagine leaving him in another room to sleep during this phase. Maybe, around two or two and half years will be the right time to start. I'd rather not think about that now. The thought of leaving a small kid in another room sends me shivers and makes me sad.

A few weeks back, we did looking for a bed that had railings on three ends but found none to our liking. So we designed one simple one with a feet and half railings on three ends that could be removed later with some storage space beneath. We placed the order too with our regular furniture vendor but he never got around to making it - I've no idea what transpired in between. Once I learned of the move back to Bangalore, there was no point following up and getting it done. Maybe once I am at Bangalore, I'll have to get LG's room furnished with a cot and some bright colors/curtains.