Moving son to his own bed

I guess I’m looking for validation and/or more advice. My son has coslept since he was born 5 years ago. When our second was born, we got a twin bed for big brother that pushed up against my side of the bed…basically just extended the bed to make room for baby.

My son (5) has always had a bit of separation anxiety. It’s gotten really bad since baby brother (19mo) was born. While I was in the hospital was the only time he’s been separated from me.

It seems to have worsened over the last 6 months or so. It’s so bad that if I close the bathroom door, he cries until I come out. He won’t even go outside to play with my husband without me. The other day we were leaving the house. I had the kids buckled and couldn’t remember if I’d blown out a candle. I told him I’d be right back and ran inside to check. He screamed the whole time. Now he starts crying as soon as he’s buckled/I close the door to get in my seat.

I cannot be in a separate room from him anymore without a meltdown.

I decided to push his bed over and have a gap between our bed and his. I’m wondering if this is the right thing to do..? Will it help normalize separation? Or is this gonna come back to bite me? It’s night 1. He didn’t complain. He loaded the bed with stuffed animals and crawled in. So he’s still in the room, but there’s space between us. Idk. Someone give me advice here, please?