Tips for safe bedsharing please

[cornflakegirl]

DC2 is due shortly. I'm not planning to co-sleep - intending to use a moses basket in our room - but I'll probably do night feeds in our bed. With DS, I fell asleep feeding in the chair / on the sofa a couple of times, so I figure feeding in bed is a better bet. However, I want to be able to do it as safely as possible. I used to put DS in between me and DH, on top of the duvet, but having read a few threads, I think that putting the baby between me and the edge of the bed, with a bed guard, might be better? (I've just read Three in a Bed, but it didn't have as much practical advice as I'd hoped.)

[pofacedandproud]

yes best not to put baby between you until baby is bigger [over one IMO] Sleeping bags are good, the baby ones, and no duvet obviously. I used to tuck the duvet well under me and in between my legs so it wouldn't go over baby. I too found sleeping and feeding better and safer than me falling asleep feeding on couch, after one night I fell asleep momentarily and dropped my son.

[cornflakegirl]

Thanks po - duvet tucked under sounds a good plan. I have a baby sleeping bag from DS. Is a blanket okay until the baby is big enough for the bag? At baby waist level so it can't slip down under it? And am I okay to use pillows as long as the baby is well down the bed at breast level?

[MrsBadger]

dd used to sleep with a cardi over her babygrow, and trousers too if it was chilly
she hated sleeping bags even when she was big enough for them and it was much easier than blankets.
I kept the duvet down to my waist level and wore a cardi too.

and I reckoned I was fine with a pillow as dd was at breast level and well clear of it

[pofacedandproud]

yes i used a pillow too and tucked my arm around it with baby well away. Got used to sleeping on side facing baby in one position! Warm pyjamas can do as well as sleeping bag or cardi and trousers as Mrs B suggests.

[JetLi]

I do the night feeds on top of the duvet. I have a pillow at both ends of the bed and switch ends depending on which boob is required (so sometimes my feet are next to DP's head if tht makes sense). DD has a sheet or blanket over her when necessary and I stick with warm jimjams. That way if we both nod off, there are no covers to worry about. Mostly though I'm awake when she dismounts (she gives me a parting chomp) so she gets slotted back in the moses, all sleepy and full.

[pofacedandproud]

dd doesn't have a parting chomp, more a satisfied clamp down from which i have to prise myself. Ouch!

[JetLi]

pofaced - we're dreading teeth in this house

[cornflakegirl]

Thanks for the tips everyone.