Long Gone Are Those Days

This last week has been exceptionally rough for Liv. She's becoming more bossy and demanding and she's starting to know what she wants. And what she doesn't want. Like naps. Or at least we thought it was the naps she was fighting. But when hubby and I took some extra time today to try to figure out what this brand new hate of naps was all about, it didn't take us long to realize that it's not that she doesn't want to sleep, it's that she doesn't want to sleep alone. 

I got pretty lucky with Livs sleeping habits from day one. Of course when she was a newborn she needed to be woke up and fed every three hours and I was okay with that, it was to be expected, but fortunately there were no extra wake-ups. Then as feedings got less frequent she would sleep through the whole night. I can't recall a time when I had to get up or stay awake with her because she didn't want to sleep and she's always loved sleeping in. She moved to her crib at three months and was perfectly content. We've never spent a night co-sleeping even before the crib, she slept in a bassinet near our bed.

Until now. Long gone are those nights when Liv went down easily and snuggled up next to her blankie. Long gone are her independent ways. She's developing her attachments and she's growing into her next stage. 

The only problem is deciding if beginning co-sleeping now is a terrible idea or not. 

I want to comfort my child and make sure that she feels I'm understanding what she needs. Hubby on the other hand doesn't have that kind of patience and he's a go-by-the-rule-book kind of guy. He doesn't like the idea of Elivia doing anything "out of line". I don't find that to be realistic. 

While it's great to want to give your children proper structure, I also feel the need to be more compassionate

towards her feelings. It hurts my heart to watch my daughters face turn into a beat red sobbing snot ball. 

Since we have never been in this situation before, we aren't very sure how to start going about it. Should we leave her to tough it out or should we console her and keep her as close as she wants to be. 

I'm not sure I would be able to be there the way she needs me to be. I'm already a night owl and when I do sleep, I toss and turn and wake easily. None of which is ideal for co-sleeping. 

So with all of that being said I'm completely open to hearing opinions on what to do. Yes, you read that right. I'm actually asking for parental advice. Nap and bed time has become that hard. I know many have gone through something at least similar to this. What have you done?