If you side-carred your crib...

megstriesagain

What kind of crib did you get?  We want to sidecar while BFing, and then put the side back on to make it a proper crib and put LO in their own room at that point.  Arm's Reach doesn't convert to a full crib, and I just don't find them attractive, and the only other I've seen recommended is the Gulliver from Ikea, which is okay, but a bit...blah. 

Also, dumb question, but can the crib mattress be at the top height if you take the side off?  We've been looking at convertible cribs in order to leave the side off and secure to our bed, but it looks like when you convert the mattress has to be at the low setting (which makes sense if you're using it as a toddler bed, but since we're not...)  TIA!

EmmieB

We did this last week:

https://embrita.blogspot.com/2009/12/so-now-that-were-ready.html

 

 It's not the prettiest crib, but like I say in my post - it converts to a toddler bed, so structurally it's the way to go when side-carring.

When it moves to the nursery I'll sand it and re-paint/stain it to go with whatever theme we've decided on. 

I set the crib mattress so that it's the same height as our bed mattress.

And - as soon as I can figure out where to buy on in January, a pool noodle will go in to fill the gap. (it's the perfect size)

MrsZiz

I'm interested to see what others to. We co-sleep but since she's getting bigger, I'd love to side car the crib.

sarahsteve

We bought a regular, non-convertible crib, and just left one side off, and attached it to our bed frame using racheting tie-down straps.  We put the crib mattress on the highest setting and it's just a few inches lower than our mattress - works perfectly.  We filled the gap between the mattresses with foam, and used another strap to strap our mattress to our bed frame so it's snug up against the foam, so everything's nice and tight.

Sidecarring has worked GREAT for us.  I didn't want to spend the extra $$ on a cosleeper.  For the first 2 months she basically just slept right next to (or on top of!) me, but now I'm starting to put her in the crib more.  I hear her when she stirs at night and pull her over to nurse, and fall back to sleep.

LittleEgypt

We have a Childcraft Legacy sleigh crib that does convert, but does not have a drop-side. It is intended to be used as a toddler/day bed with the lower long side removed. It is a little less stable on the short sides than typical use because we have the mattress on the lowest setting (not typical for a daybed), but that is what matches our mattress best since it's on the floor!