Repost: Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper

shanatait2be · October 2010

Hi all,

I am coming over from 2nd trimester to ask this as I am kind of trying to get a feel for things that I may need for my 2nd child.

With DS I breastfed and he slept in a bassinet in our room for the first couple of months after which he slept in his crib in his room. We have never co-slept but I was looking into this co-sleeper. I don't plan on this baby sleeping in our bed either, but I do plan to breast feed again and was reading the review of this bassinet/co-sleeper that talked about how easy it was to have LO in arm's reach to breast feed. This question may sound silly, but this is just like a bassinet that goes right by your bed and doesn't have a side where it comes right up to your bed, correct? '
For those of you who have one or have experience with this, do you recommend it? What are the pros and/or cons? Also, for those whose child is older, was it at all difficult to "break" your child of sleeping beside you?

Thanks in advance

ama4121 · October 2010

I loved having it, especially for the nights he was up 4+ times. I never had to get out of bed. The side does drop down, but I always left it up because I was afraid I would knock my blanket on top of him. (DH and I are overly paranoid, though). It was still better than having a detatched one because i didn't have to worry about it sliding around. The mattress is pretty thin which wasn't a problem until he got heavier. We didn't have any trouble transitioning to his crib, I think because it was so much more comfortable for him.

Wilwarin · October 2010

I was really looking forward to using this item, but we had latching problems and I found it really hard to nurse in bed with the lights off. I still do. It is a brilliant idea, but just didn't work for us. He sleeps so well in his Rock N' Play that I can't imagine trying anything else.

kelleylk · October 2010

I have one of these and love it. The only drawback was having to buy extra "feet" to go underneath the cosleeper. It was too short for our bed and needed to be raised a good amount. Our BRU didn't have them in stock, so it was a bit of a hassle. Overall, I would recommend it to you.

Oh, and we haven't transitioned over to his crib yet. So, not sure how that's gonna go yet.

katcarls · October 2010

We had DS in the bassinet of the pnp in our room. It worked out really well for breastfeeding and I never wished that he were closer. I know the Arm's Reach can also be used as a regular pnp but it was more expensive and didn't have a changer which I ended up using a lot. We just started transitioning to the crib yesterday and it's going really well so far.