How to sleep with baby

mamabird19

I am sorry if this has been covered, I am new to this group and I looked through but didn't see anything.

Baby is due any day now and my sister gave me a cosleeper to use (which I am very grateful for) but the thing is so huge and takes up so much room and I feel like the baby will be so far away. I really want to just bed share but hubby and I both take up a lot of room and I worry about him falling off. I know for a while they don't move I just don't feel comfortable with the edge of the bed being right next to him. Is a bed rail a good idea? Any other strategies?

Thanks for your help!

vvvvvfee

here are a couple of links with safety guidelines:

safe cosleeping guidelines
safe cosleeping habits

i agree that the cosleeper is not very useful. i thought it would be easier to get LO out of the cosleeper and into the bed when he woke, but you really have to sit all the way up and lean over to get them out safely. also, DS would not sleep in the cosleeper, so we gave up on it at about 6 weeks and started bedsharing. i did leave the cosleeper there, though, to act as a bedrail. (we have a pillow-top mattress, not a really squishy one, but it makes the mattress too deep for most bedrails to work. but a bedrail may work for you if have a regular mattress and want to go that route.) in the early days, DS slept on the outside of the bed between me and the cosleeper. i kept my arm under and around him. you will be very aware of when your LO wakes or stirs, so i wouldn't worry about him getting away from you. i would not let your LO sleep between you and your DH until he is older- old enough to flip over/swat hands/roll away- because they are not as aware of where baby is as a BFing mom. after that it's fine to have them in the middle.

Rrrrrachel

The cosleeper or a side carred crib makes a great "bed rail" even if you don't out baby in it. I worry about entrapment with regular bed rails.

mamabird19

I worried about that as well.. I am thinking of trying to find a smaller cosleeper at a consignment store and using it as "safety net" so to speak, at least for a while. Thanks for all of your help everyone!
vvvvvfee thank you for posting those links as well!

TiffanyBerry

I think a lot of it depends on you, your baby, and the particular setup.  We had a cosleeper that had a mattress level (flush) with our mattress.  Then baby and I each had our own space.  It was wonderful!

Emerald27

You could sidecar the crib with one side off to provide a space for baby if you need to scoot him over and have more room for yourself, and the safety of the crib rails to prevent falls. Like this:

UberBiz

TiffanyBerry said:

I think a lot of it depends on you, your baby, and the particular setup.  We had a cosleeper that had a mattress level (flush) with our mattress.  Then baby and I each had our own space.  It was wonderful!

I was looking at co-sleepers like that, like it's a little mini-crib type deal, that you can fold down one side and slip it under your mattress (adjustable height I guess) so it doesn't roll away, and it's level with the mattress. Or something. But I LOVE bed-sharing, but with me and FI in bed, he gets very nervous, so this may be a good compromise.

mamabird19

Do you have a brand name of what you were looking at? Thats what I was kind of assuming our co sleeper would be but it is really a pack in play that is higher up and has one side a little lower.. not horrible but not quite ideal either.

UberBiz

the PP's picture of the crib up against the bed is what I was thinking, but the co-sleeper I added to my registry isn't what I described. I think it was just wishful thinking or I remembered it wrong, lol. I think in my mind I was thinking it was more like these:

https://www.designrulz.com/design/2013/05/the-culla-belly-co-sleeper-attaches-onto-beds-for-easy-access/

https://www.ecobaby.gr/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=36

I googled "co sleeper" and found those.

mamabird19

the culla belly sleeper thing is definitely more of what i was thinking. they are only like $70 on amazon! Thanks for the links!

TiffanyBerry

UberBiz said:

the PP's picture of the crib up against the bed is what I was thinking, but the co-sleeper I added to my registry isn't what I described. I think it was just wishful thinking or I remembered it wrong, lol. I think in my mind I was thinking it was more like these:

https://www.designrulz.com/design/2013/05/the-culla-belly-co-sleeper-attaches-onto-beds-for-easy-access/

https://www.ecobaby.gr/product_info.php?language=en&products_id=36

I googled "co sleeper" and found those.

The pic is essentially what I was talking about.  My husband made ours, so it was a PNP sized mattress, not a full crib size:

mamabird19

that is awesome TiffanyBerry! Your hubby should make more of those, i would buy one!

eg214

@mamabird19 just an fyi...the ones on Amazon do not look like they attach to the bed. They look like stand alone/floor beds...so just be careful when you order

Rrrrrachel

We have a mini crib which is really easy to convert to a cosleeper. Just leave one side off and zip tie it to the bed frame.