Help a first timer with sleeping arrangements?

[ThePartyArtist]

I am pregnant with my first and wondering about sleeping arrangements.

One of my friends swears by co-sleeping and has a cot that attaches to her bed. She says it's the only way she got any sleep and made feeding so much easier. However my concern with this arrangement is how do you ever get the kid into their own room? I don't want them still in with us when they're nursery / school age. And also with co-sleeping how do you put them to bed before you - because surely if their cot attaches to your bed they could make their way out of it and you won't be there to see?

Also, can someone talk to me about moses baskets - I get that newborns don't need a big cot but is it an unnecessary cost because they outgrow the basket fairly quickly? Or is the point of the basket that you can move it from room to room unlike a cot?

Obviously I am open to trying different approaches and realise it's not one size fits all. I wonder if there is a kind of cot we can buy which offers a few different options as regards co-sleeping etc. I hope to breastfeed and would like a sleeping arrangement that allows that with minimal hassle. But also would really like the child to be able to sleep independently before too long (my parents tell me I didn't sleep through the night til 4 and I'd like to avoid that, although I realise i may be due some karma!)

Thanks in advance - sorry clueless first timer!

[thereareworsethingsicoulddo]

We have a Snuzpod- it attaches to the bed if that's the way you want to go but equally can have the sides up and use it as a crib. Also the bassinet comes off the stand and can move it from room to room. I recommend it!

A sleepyhead IMO is an essential for when they're tiny and fits perfectly inside the Snuzpod. I've found this the best combo although my baby doesn't sleep so it's a bit irrelevant

[DavidPuddy]

From what I understand children sleep through the night when they are ready and not before, so any method you use will probably work out the same, wake-up-wise.

We co-slept with my baby until 4 months and it worked wonderfully. Wake ups were easy, I didn't need to get out of bed unless I wanted to change nappy, and baby was quickly back to sleep.

Now we have the cot right next to the bed and she sleeps in that most of the night and comes into bed with us last thing in the morning. Again wake-ups are quick and easy. She is currently 6 months and still so little to be in a room on her own, but I have no qualms that she will at some point be ready.

In terms of sleeping in the evening before we would go to bed, when she was small she would sleep on my chest in the sling. From about 4 months she has been on the bed by herself, blocked in by the cot. We have a big bed, so she has lots of space, but actually she doesn't move around while she is asleep, unlike other babies.

All of this we figured out from experimenting once the baby was here.

[Coconut0il]

Had a moses basket for both of mine, neither of them ever slept in it. During the early weeks they would sleep on my lap downstairs till we all went to bed. I co slept with DS1 and I'm currently co sleeping with DS2, I find it easier with bf and any wake ups are normally quick. DS1 started co sleeping in our bed, then moved to his cot with the side off, then to his own bed in his room. I plan to do the same with DS2.
I really believe sleeping through is developmental just like crawling or walking so each baby will do it at their own pace. My advice would be to go with whatever works for you and your baby and whatever gives you the most sleep.

[eurochick]

Ours slept in a carrycot in the living room during the day (there are a few carrycots suitable for this). In the evenings she napped in the carrycot. She tended to have a feed around 10-11 when we went to bed so we brought her through to the bedroom and put her in her co sleeper cot then.

We moved her into her own room at around 8 months (it would have been sooner but there was a cock up with the nursery furniture delivery).

[tootiredtotidy]

Afraid to say your baby will have his own rules... My DS and DD were totally different sleepers but we did use a Moses basket for them both, but that's cos we had bought one as everyone said I needed to. They did sleep in it but only up to 6 weeks cos they got too big. If money is tight I say just go for a cot from the off.

If like my DS they don't sleep very well then you might be co-sleeping anyway just to get some rest. We used a sleepyhead for him from 4 months that helped. DD however was a good sleeper from day 1 so she could have slept in anything

Either way, good luck and enjoy their baby days!!!

[Rinceoir]

I didn't have a Moses basket- in the day DD slept on my lap, on a rug in the sitting room, in a sling or in her pram carrycot (ie anywhere).

At night she was in a co-sleeper which had 4 sides, one of which I could let down to make it an extension of our bed. She slept through the night at 8 weeks and moved into a cot in our room at 5 months (she outgrew the co-sleeper). She went into her own room at 20months, but we just delayed moving her as our house is tiny. She was exclusively breastfed, but slept well in spite of this. I think it's just her personality.