Ready for Own Room?

I am sorry, I work full time, so I don't get on the site as often as others, so I am not familiar with you. What has your daughter been diagnosed with (what are her special needs)? I am just curious, because I have a 4 year old son who has developmental delays and has speech problems, and he still slept with us in our bed until about 3 weeks ago. I guess what I am trying to say is that she will let you know when she is ready. My son has had his own toddler bed and room set up since he was 2 but he would throw a fit when we tried to lay him down in his own bed, so we just let him sleep with us (we really didn't mind, except for the fact that he is getting too big now). And litteraly about 3 weeks ago, we simply told him "you're getting to be a big boy now and big boys sleep in their own bed" (which we have actually tried telling him many times before). I guess now he is just ready, because he said okay and held his arms up for us to take him up to his room! He wakes up occassionally and comes into our room, I think just for the reassurance that we are still close by, because as soon as we take him back up, he falls right back asleep. Anyway, I know it's tough, but she will let you know --and when it happens you feel so proud and it is great!!! He loves his room now :o)

N. A.

I am not sure what special needs your daughter has, but we have a video monitor that makes me feel very comfortable with my baby being in his own room. I researched tons of monitors, and this one had the best customer reviews. It is so sensitive we can hear him breathing during the night, and it is infa-red so we can see him also. Please let me know if you are interested and I will get you the brand name/where we got it and all of that. When I put my son in his own room I actually slept on an air mattress in his room for the first couple of days. It is hard to leave them in there by themselves!! Good luck.

I have a special needs child too. He is now 14. Since your child is now two she should be ready for sleeping in her own room at night. You did not mention if she naps in her room. If she does not start out by putting her down for naps in there and then let her go to the store and pick out a special night time animal, or baby and tell her that it and her are ready to spend the night in her own room. There are kinds of baby monitors. They even have TV monitor ones now so you can see her sleeping.

What type of special needs does she have? If she has health issues that require close monitoring you may want to delay this. If not, then a baby monitor between rooms may be enough to make you feel comfortable. You should also pay attention to how she does with seperation from you. Depending on her development, she may have already gone through seperation anxiety phases and be ready for more independence. You need to take your cues from her. She may use the room during the day and stay in your room at night. That is okay. I don't believe in forcing kids to do more than they are developmentally ready for. It may be that you try it one night and she might make it half the night and then come to your room. That is okay as well. Sometimes parents need a bit of space from time to time and two years sleeping in the same room as your little one may have put you to the point where YOU are ready for some seperation. Try what you are comfortable with. You may even need that seperation for you and dad to reconnect in a way that you have missed by having little angel in your room.

Let us know how you work this out.
C.