I've had some success with getting Winter (13 months) to nap in my bed if I am able to nurse her a bit after her head hits the pillow. I'd like her to nap in her crib, but I can't nurse her in there cuz I am so super short. :
I am thinking of taking the front off of her crib, putting the mattress down the lowest it goes and just putting a bed rail up. Has anyone done this with success or with a baby this age? G never slept in a crib, so this is new for me.
Re: would you feel comfortable?
I haven't done it, but with a bed rail I'd be comfortable with it!
BTW, I have gotten IN the crib to nurse before....getting out carefully and quietly is a b!tch!
When I was at my wits end with DS not sleeping apart from me, we attempted to side car his crib in a similar fashion, using our bed as the "rail." His crib was in the corner, the mattresses were even height and our bed was next to it, so that nothing could wiggle apart. A, he never went for it. He knew the difference between his crib mattress and our cushy bed and usually woke up immediately, and B, I found it really hard to rest when he was in there.
And like pp said, it's really hard to even shift your weight off the crib/mattress without making enough noise to waken the kiddo.
But try it. Or something like it. She might go for it!
I think around this age was when we started having E nap on our bed. We'd surround him with pillows (leaving a couple of feet on all sides of him) and have the monitor next to us at all times, checking on him at any sound. He never fell off or even moved much before we got in there. He was a late walker so he was not walking at this point.
Another option would be to put a mattress on the floor (crib or any size really) in a 100% babyproof room w/ a gate. That's what we did after a couple of months of the above. We tried the toddler bed option you described, but it was way too far off the floor for me to be comfortable with.
I totally blocked it out but we did this too for quite a while. And then DS fell out of bed (sadly more than once!) and we installed for reals bed rails. And then that got old and we moved to the bed on the floor. It was the only way I got good sleep for a good long time. But since you are an experienced bed-sharer, I think I figured you knew that (and may have even clued me in to begin with!).
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This happens a lot, but f you have carpeting, it generally doesn't cause any major injury.