Basic Cosleeping Questions

amiralinda

Hey there! I'm preparing for my son's birth in January and have been planning to cosleep for as long as I can recall. I have a couple logistical questions tho.

1) do I really need a cosleeper, or is it a waste of money? I like the halo and the arms reach but I know people with both who ended up just putting baby in their bed and using it to throw dirty laundry on. Lol

2) if we bed share, what do we do with blankets? It will be chilly in January! Does he go between us with no blanket and we each have separate blankets? Does he go on one side of me and if so what do I do to prevent him from getting too close or falling off the edge of the bed? I have heard of using a pool noodle under a fitted sheet as a bumper. If there's anyway I can avoid spending another $200 on a cosleeper I am into that! Do they sell bed bumpers?

Any other tips and suggestions are welcome too!

orangecurls

1. I have a co sleeper and he sleeps in it sometimes, but he usually sleeps right next to me. My little guy is rolling now, and has rolled off the bed and into the co sleeper a couple times. I'm glad it is there for that reason. Though I'm sure you could do something else like guard rails, floor bed or something. You can also buy a used co sleeper, my sister got one for $40.

2. He sleeps in a sleep sack. I wear warm PJs and use a blanket only for my lower half.

SLGILL1978

As far as question one, I can't really answer. I had a crib and a bassinet in our room. I was lucky if my daughter slept in the bassinet (we were able to move it from room to room). She refused to sleep in her crib. 

For questions two, technically for safe bed sharing, you're not supposed to use any blankets. I would just dress my daughter in warm pjs/clothes. If I felt she needed more, sometimes I would use a small, light receiving blanket. For the first few months, when we bedshared, my husband was deployed so my daughter and I basically had our own sides of the bed. I just pushed one side to the wall. When my husband came home, I would sleep in the middle. Now that she is a toddler, she just sleeps anywhere. Some days I am in the middle and other days she is. 

gigilex

I bought a co sleeper for my son when he was born, but I couldn't sleep with him in it; I constantly woke up to make sure he was breathing. I know this seems so awful, but I just ended up holding him throughout the night (I still woke up every 1.5-2 hours to nurse him though). Anyhow, as e got older, he slept next to me and we bought the regalo bed rail to prevent him from rolling and he always slept in his sleep sack.

nhunter112

I know that for safe co sleeping you're not supposed to put a new born between you and your SO. As your SO won't be as conciously aware of baby when they're asleep. You can Google safe cosleeping and there should be a link for ask Dr. Sears and would explain more about it. I won't be buying a co sleeper. My SO and I will be investing in a king size bed instead and putting it on the floor and against a wall so we won't have to buy a rail.hope this helped.
Edited to add that if you don't want a floor bed or to buy a rail you can just push your bed against a wall and have yourself and baby lay on that side so there'd be no risk in falling.

kristyn831

When LO wakes to nurse at night and I bring him into bed, I am always in the middle. He never rolls away from me and is always touching me when asleep. When he gets older and doesn't stay in my arms, I will get a guard rail. Hopefully by this time, he is nursing less frequently and in his own crib.