co sleeping & falling off the bed.

[NippyDrips]

Ds has decided he is a co sleeper. After 7 months of minor resistance we have given in and taken the side off his cot. We now effectively have a side car cot.

When I put him down for the night or for afternoon naps he is usually awake and settles himself off to sleep. How do I stop him from crawling across the whole bed and falling off the edge?

[SquidgersMummy]

Bump - exactly same position here - dd not quite crawling yet - most naps on me or in pram ... or mummy has an afternoon nap too We got a bed rail from kiddicare for weekends away but doesn't solve the crawling issue. Dd frequently wakes due to eczema, and 8/9 before asleep so I often go to bed not an awful lot later but it would be nice to have the option! X

[npg1]

Can I just ask why you have decided this?

I believe babies should be in their own cots/ baskets to encourage good routines. My babies were always put to bed in their baskets next to me.

[VilootShesCute]

We took our bed down, have mattress on floor so no worries about falling off. They are babies for such a short amount of time and need to be held and close to their mummy or daddy as much as poss. I just love sharing my bed with our baby, I wish I had with my others. Squidgers-sounds exactly like my day and night, down to the mummy naps too. Yay for daytime sleeping.

[npg1]

So what do u do about naps in day?

[VilootShesCute]

Sling or in my arms. You'd think the bingo wings would've disappeared by now but oooh no

[TheHouseofMirth]

I used to put an extra duvet and pillows on the floor on the side without the cot and at the foot end of the bed to break any potential fall (although they never crawled or rolled out).

[MercedesKing]

How about adjusting and having some soft parapets which can be be enclosed or opened flexibly, when I was a baby, my mom and dad would put the parapet straight when they were not around, while the equipment would be folded when they are around (the parapet still exists right now).

[NippyDrips]

Glad its not just me squidgers, I thought I was missing something obvious.

Npg1 we decided because it is easier to cosleep while breastfeeding. We all get more sleep. He still has his own cot, it is just flush with our bed so like a bed extention. He goes in it alone at 7 every night and settles himself to sleep. Same as in the daytime.

Viloot, I love it too, I had my older children in their own rooms early on and never shared a bed with them and I regret it now.

Duvet & pillows sound like a good plan, I will try that first.

Mercedes, what is a parapet, sorry if that is a stupid question!

[SquidgersMummy]

Sorry to hijack but npg1 we do this again mainly as it has naturally turned out this way from breastfeeding and also as dd has eczema so wakes a lot to scratch and can do some damage...however they are little for such a short time and we both love her sleeping with us we didn't plan to move her out before 1 anyway. I think it's more natural. She was more in the attached cot when little as I was careful re SIDS but now depending on which boob we are on either of us wakes up in there Evolutionary and attachment wise putting a tiny baby to sleep on their own - in a different room - just makes no sense to me. We typically spend a lot of years trying to find the right person so we don't have to sleep alone. Dd is napping now. It's my time to sit down after a busy morning. It works. X

[MissMilliment]

I coslept with dd and it was great - like you, OP I had a sidecar cot so she had her own space. It meant that night feeds were so much easier as I woke up while she was still snuffling and could bring her over and feed her lying down before she ever got to the point of crying.

OP, my dd wasn't much of a wanderer in her cot - but I did put her in a grobag which probably discouraged crawling about . Do you use covers or a sleeping bag?

[NippyDrips]

Ah, we use blankets but do have grobags, that is inspired!

Squidgers, I can feed both boobs from lay on either side so I just lay inn my side of the bed facing him an when he sounded like he wad hungry pulled him over to me an popped either boob in. I love having him so close.

[MissMilliment]

The other great thing about grobags is that the baby doesn't even get its covers disturbed when you move them over to you for a feed, and you can put them back in their cot afterwards with no faffing.

I wish I'd known about cosleeping/feeding lying down/grobags with my first. I was on my knees with exhaustion and sitting up 'properly' feeding DS through the night then trying to manoeuvre him back into his cot without waking him up. Nightmare.

[NippyDrips]

Everything seems so much easier with a good sleep.

I will definitely dig out the grobags tonight.

[TheHouseofMirth]

If you use a Grobag and you have an adult duvet on your bed do be extra careful that it doesn't cover your DC. I used to keep our duvet folded at the bottom of the bed until I went bed and sleep with a warm top on and wrap my legs in the duvet so there was no danger of them wriggling under it and overheating.

[Victoria2002]

I used the babydan bed rail. It clips on & off very easily so at times used it on our bed but mostly used it to block the open cot side. (We also had a 3-sided cot pressed against our bed).