Co-sleeping (or have co-slept) moms

inamra · January 2011

What do you use to prevent baby from rolling off the edge of the bed?

lelekay · January 2011

We co-sleep only in the mornings (he wakes around 4-5, then comes to bed with me). We don't really use it much anymore (he really doesn't fit in it anymore), but we still have the ARCS set up next to my side of the bed. If he were to roll he'd just roll into that. However, he rarely moves an inch when in bed with us!

MrsNJSwimmer · January 2011

usually we just used pillows.

Married2MrWright · January 2011

We've used pillows and then these foam rollers that we had from physical therapy shoved under the fitted sheets on each side to make a higher "barrier." We were considering getting these foam bed rails: https://gobedbug.com/ or these drop down bed rails made for thicker mattresses: https://baby-safety-products.babycatalog.com/baby-safety-nursery/safe-sleeper-safety-bed-rail-00390

But we decided to transition her to the crib instead. I want to say that she's napped in our bed for many months with the pillow+foam roller and never fallen out. She's never tried to crawl over them and when she wakes she always calls-out and let's us know she's up. That said, the pillow+foam roller would not be safe for a baby who's more "adventurous." Neither would the other bed rails be for a child who's willing to try to crawl over or around them! The safest way to co-sleep is with a floor bed...but that wasn't an option for us (for myriad reasons).

Libby has fallen off the bed three times...twice it was with DH and it was the middle of the day (not nap or bedtime and she was not sleepy nor asleep) and he put her in the middle of the bed and she wanted him and crawled right off. The one other time was about two weeks ago around 3 a.m. when I jumped out of bed with a leg cramp and didn't put the roller/pillows on my side. She was looking to nurse and inched her way right off the bed. Thankfully the pillows were on the floor and she landed on them. She didn't even cry, but it was scary for us. That was one of the reasons we decided to transition to the crib. She still comes to our bed in the mornings, but she's between DH and I.

MauiWedding08 · January 2011

we used a bed rail on my side. It made the bed feel bigger b/c I didn't always have to make sure J was in between us. Would not work for babies that move around or want to stand up or something.

mrs.winter · January 2011

We use pillows, but Ashton has fell off the bed 2 times during the night. Due to me though. When I was nursing Ashton I would switch sides during the night and sometimes I would forget to move the pillows as I was half asleep. It was very scary when he did fall but he was fine. We don't use a bed frame anymore..just the mattress and box spring on the floor.

mrs.winter · January 2011

Oh and once Ashton started crawling, he sometimes crawls during his sleep and I've caught him a few times from crawling off the bed. Lucky he was crawling on my legs and woke me up.

P.S. I'm really glad we bedshare. As much as I wish he would sleep in his crib, I love the snuggle time and know it won't be forever.

inamra · January 2011

Thanks for all the input, ladies. So for those who used pillows, do you mean pillows on the ground or pillows on the bed?

We started off with nothing (and B rolled off the bed), then sidecarred his crib, and now we're using the pnp on the side of the bed. But the pnp sides are so stretchy, that sometimes he rolls into it and gets kinda stuck and I don't want that to become a potential suffocation hazard, so that's why I'm looking for other ideas now...but he always cries when that happens (he's a super light sleeper) so maybe it's not as big of a concern...he also tries to stand up while holding onto the pnp edges, which makes him stand considerably over the pnp edge and I don't want him falling over into the pnp head first...so that's also concerning to me.

Married2MrWright · January 2011

inamra:

Thanks for all the input, ladies. So for those who used pillows, do you mean pillows on the ground or pillows on the bed?

We started off with nothing (and B rolled off the bed), then sidecarred his crib, and now we're using the pnp on the side of the bed. But the pnp sides are so stretchy, that sometimes he rolls into it and gets kinda stuck and I don't want that to become a potential suffocation hazard, so that's why I'm looking for other ideas now...but he always cries when that happens (he's a super light sleeper) so maybe it's not as big of a concern...he also tries to stand up while holding onto the pnp edges, which makes him stand considerably over the pnp edge and I don't want him falling over into the pnp head first...so that's also concerning to me.

If you had the crib sidecarred why did you switch to the PNP? Seems that a sidecarred crib is the most secure/safe option of co-sleeping.

FYI (and for other mamas reading) here's GREAT instructions for sidecarring:

https://www.freewebs.com/sidecarcrib/index.htm

And here's some photos of different sidecar crib situations. I totally want to do this for baby #2!

As for the pillows...they're ON the bed. Tucked until the fitted sheet or at least the other sheets/blakets to "hold" them in place. Not scientific at all, but for us, using them AND the foam rollers has worked like a charm for 12 months!

FWIW, when we had the ARCS on my side there was a gap between our mattress and the ARCS because of our bedframe. I shoved those foam rollers down it and secured it with bungee cords and then topped them with a thin pillow to close the gap. That way the ARCS acted like a bed rail. When you sidecarred your crib was it flush against your bed/mattress or did you need to fill in a gap?

MrsZiz · January 2011

She slept in the middle but she did roll off once, thank God there was a pillow on the floor next to the bed and she was about 8 months old... that freaked me out enough that I knew we needed to be done co-sleping soon.

MrsNJSwimmer · January 2011

MH has a really thick pillow, and I just use that when we go to bed. When MH comes to bed, then he is the blocker

inamra · January 2011

Married2MrWright:
If you had the crib sidecarred why did you switch to the PNP? Seems that a sidecarred crib is the most secure/safe option of co-sleeping.

FYI (and for other mamas reading) here's GREAT instructions for sidecarring:

https://www.freewebs.com/sidecarcrib/index.htm

And here's some photos of different sidecar crib situations. I totally want to do this for baby #2!

As for the pillows...they're ON the bed. Tucked until the fitted sheet or at least the other sheets/blakets to "hold" them in place. Not scientific at all, but for us, using them AND the foam rollers has worked like a charm for 12 months!

FWIW, when we had the ARCS on my side there was a gap between our mattress and the ARCS because of our bedframe. I shoved those foam rollers down it and secured it with bungee cords and then topped them with a thin pillow to close the gap. That way the ARCS acted like a bed rail. When you sidecarred your crib was it flush against your bed/mattress or did you need to fill in a gap?

We switched to the pnp because we only had one crib and we moved him to his room, but he still co-sleeps from ~5am (when he wakes up to nurse) until 9-10am (when I usually wake up).

Yeah, when we sidecarred the crib, I pulled our mattress over so it was flush against the crib mattress (and the other side of the crib was tight against the wall, so it wasn't going to shift). There was like a 1cm gap but it was so small (and didn't budge beyond that) so I wasn't too concerned. It's funny because he hates his crib so much that he would never roll onto it. But after he's asleep I would move him onto his crib, but he'd always just roll back into our bed =P

But yeah, we're definitely going to sidecar for any other babies in the future. It worked really well. Yeah, and I originally got the idea from the https://www.freewebs.com/sidecarcrib/index.htm link you posted

TwoBumbleBees · January 2011

Big heavy pillows, not the fluffy kind. and I also have a body pillow.

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