BF and night-time feeds - do you use a bedside cot?

[primalero]

I plan on rooming-in for the initial months and was thinking of getting a bedside cot as it seems like it'd be easier for night-time feeds. I'd like to hear any opinions or experience including brands etc.

Congrats.

We had an empty Moses basket by the bed and now an empty cot in the nursery. DS has snuggled up next to me since birth. Sometimes I want to scream, but I love it really.

We used a cotbed with the side removed as a cosleeper. With my first it was somewhere to keep the basket of laundry that needs put away, or space for my right leg on bad nights . With this one it was brilliant - dump the Moses basket in there at bedtime, replace with baby after a feed, stick the side on it once she rolls, job done.

Congrats on the new baby!

We initially used the £30 moses basket from John Lewis and bought a rocking stand from mother care. JL sell them. We just didn't realise how necessary it was and initially bought a still one. First night home was a NIGHTMARE. We went straight out next day and bought this and I've never been more grateful to an inanimate object. This meant I could stay in bed and rock it if dd woke slightly and snuffled. Very often she shot quite quickly back off to sleep. I loved this stand and basket. It was really easy to move from the slightest flick of a finger. I could doze and rock quite easily. Check out the lullabyes on itunes too as some of them are simply fab. I was playing 'name that tune' for the first two weeks of dd's life with myself overnight guessing the lullabye version of 'bad romance', 'we're jammin', 'do it like a lady' and more. Seriously helped pass the time in the wee mid hours when I felt at times very alone bfing. (incase interested first 2wks were hell on earth, then all gets easier. Stick at it if you are able to. Still going now at 5mths which I NEVER thought Id make or want to so good luck whatever you choose!)

At about 8weeks we noticed she was scraping the sides in the night with her hands and we moved the moses downstairs to the lounge where its now her 'day bed'. This is perfect for those moments where delivery men knock, postmen need help, window cleaners paying, mum needs a pee etc and a fast safe place is needed to put her. I also find rocking more needed now during the day rather than at night where still and quiet seems to rein better.

Upstairs we use a white wooden crib from Mamas and Papas. It rocks but frankly the rocking motion on this was flipping awful. I locked it and Ive never used it. The crib is still in use and again she's now beginning to scrape the sides in order to wake me. As a bed its fine. Probably could have done without it and moved from basket to cot, however when we moved her into the crib at 8weeks she looked like a pea in a shoe box. In a cot, well, she would have been tiny!!! (She's pretty polite really and rather than screaming just snuffles or runs her paws up and down the crib sides which causes a swishing noise in order to wake me up.)

We also bought a wooden cot from JLewis for about £200 approx that will eventually change into the first bed. We have as yet not used it. Its sat patiently upstairs for 5mths so far and I use it to change her on and also store blankets and stuff (!). Could have saved the dosh for a bit frankly. The sides drop down to enable a co-sleeping effect where I could drag her straight in. Its now month 5 and we are just about considering altering her from crib to cot. Ill definitely have her in for a few weeks first then move her into her nursery I think for ever (boo hoo). We nearly did this last week but (fortunately) DH said he would miss her. I quietly concurred while mentally punching the air like an FA cup winner....

At this point, just an aside, but I got told not to buy bumpers for anything for fear of suffocation. I cannot be sure but I think people mean the round things that look like the objects used in bowling alleys to fill the edges (hope you know what I mean!). I've only used thin material things that are fixed with ribbons top and bottom to protect against the wood. I've experienced no problems so far. Shop around and have a look before you decide on anything like this so you feel comfortable in either direction.

Also, before I forget, monitors! DH loved the research on this and prams (I was relieved to hand over choosing of something to someone else!). We bought a samsung video monitor with one camera only. I love it. I can talk to her, see her and move it all round the house and we have taken it away with us too. Have a look. A sound one only is perfectly serviceable I have nothing against them but if you do have extra in your budget Id suggest reviewing these things first and again deciding for yourself. I have now recently found it great for assessing if DD is grumbling or dozing but snuffly, or just to watch her. And I have to admit enjoying talking to her and watching her confused stare in the cameras general direction! Cant wait to hide it and use it when shes 5!!!!! Big momma knows whatcha doin' kid!!! ha ha!!!!

Best of luck and again many congrats to you and your family. Hope some of these musings help you. x

Thanks everyone for your comments. I'm looking at the Cosatto Close To Me bedside cot online at the moment which seems to be well-liked (at least it has good reviews on the Boots and Mothercare websites.) I have a week-old baby who is currently sleeping in a moses basket pushed up against our bed and I like being able to just pop my hand across to touch him, plus it's pretty easy to lift him in and out of the moses basket for feeds. Anything that makes life easier (or gets me a few extra minutes of sleep) is of interest!

LaCiccolina thanks for your detailed post.

LaCiccolina - I think that is what bumpers are... Do you mean this sort of thing? www.vertbaudet.co.uk/cot-bumper-multi-coloured.htm?ProductId=702303043&FiltreCouleur=0005&t=6

Side along cots are wonderful! We co-sleep in the same bed, but it's a big bed with lots of space. With a normal bed we'd use a side-along. Now that DS is big enough to roll out we have a toddler rail as a bed guard. He still feeds several times a night but either I don't wake and he helps himself, or if I've rolled over he hits me until I present a boobie and I just go back to slee LOL. You need to practise lie down feeding though as that's a skill. I get a good night's sleep that I could never have without co sleeping.

Also, if he's ill I know he's ok as he's next to me, so I sleep better then, too.

We splashed out and bought the Stokke cot that converts from a crib to a cot to a bed. It fits easily between my side and the wall, and I prefer the security of knowing DS can't roll onto my side but still handy for feeding (and handholding through the bars if he needs it).

It's wonderful. Not cheap though. And he still comes into our bed sometimes if he's got a cold and struggling with snuffles.

I've got the Cosatto one and think it's great - for the first few months it was next to our bed with the mattresses flush together, so ds would start the night in his bed then I could just scoot him over to me for a feed without having to sit up or anything.

Then when he moved into his own room obviously he was already used to the cot, since it is full size rather than a crib.

I am looking at getting one of these for next baby, they look perfect and DD hated her moses basket so am not going to bother with one for this baby. DD was very noisy in early weeks but needed reassurance and am hoping the bednest will help us to avoid so much co-sleeping. Am sleeping so deeply that am not quite so confident about my "mummy radar" these days!

Great idea I did this with second baby and was so much easier than having to get up. I felt safer as well with the extra space, as inevitably babe usually ended up snuggled into me!

Didn't buy a specific designed one though just lowered side of cot and put it next to bed worked well with our mattress.

Hey! Checked with dh and the cot is a cosatto. Looks fab. Great height for nappies, never had back ache off it. As say not yet used it for bubba but still like it. I've loved having dd in bedroom and would definitely recommend it. X

Another vote for the bednest here. We loved having DD fight next to us for the first 10 weeks or so, it made life so easy to be able to just reach out to her to help her fall asleep, stroke her cheek, etc.

She's now still in our room, in the bednest, but by the window with the side up. She's been there for about 3 weeks and we're really happy with the arrangement.

The bednest is really beautifully made and we've been totally thrilled with it.

Good luck!

I had a carry cot by the bed, but if we have another DC, they'll just be in bed with me. 16 m.o. DS is in with me still - I'd miss him if he was somewhere else.

As you can see everyone does something different or so it seems and you really won't know what will work for you and your LO til they arrive. FWIW we used a moses basket for a couple of weeks then decided that putting the cotbed next to our bed with the side off meant lazy mummy could just slide DS across, feed and slide back. And without the cost of buying something extra to do this job. This worked well for us until he started rolling when I put the side back on, but will obviously depend on your room/bed setup. It didn't seem to matter to DS that he was so small in such a big bed, in fact he slept better than in the moses basket. If you can fit the cot or whatever you will be using eventually in your room then I'd give this a go before shelling out on something special to do the same job.

i loved our bedside cot for dd1
we got rid of it though, as we intended just to have one dc

dd2 (wink) slept in with us for a while. however, i found this really uncomfortable, particularly as we only have a standard double bed. using a bedside cot was so much better, although if we had the money and room for a superking i would have been happier about cosleeping.

Another vote for the bedside cot. We bought an Armsreach from ebay and it was our best purchase ever! He was in it until 6 months and it is now packed away for our imaginary DC2!

Thanks again everyone for your comments. I liked the sound of the bednest but we've borrowed a moses basket and DS seems to be fine in it for now*, so a bigger bedside cot would probably be best for us as it would last a bit longer.

I hadn't thought of just assembling a normal cot with 3 sides up, one off as a DIY bedside cot - thanks TittyBojangles for that idea. I saw online that Mothercare sell something as a bedside cot but people end up having to put foam or towels between the cot and big bed's mattresses to fill a gap anyway. I think it's time to measure the big bed's height and have a look at cots in real life to see what might suit best.

Beanlet glad to hear you like the Stokki - I was thinking of that one too! Decisions, decisions. I thought my recent indecisiveness was down to pregnancy hormones but maybe not .

• Disclaimer: he's not yet 2 weeks old so talking about sleep patterns may be a bit premature, but when he wakes in the morning he won't settle back into the moses basket and so we have a snooze in the big bed together. I think he wants to be a cosleeping baby