Are bed rails safe for a co-sleeping 7mo?

[lilham]

My DD sleep has gone downhill since 6mo. Now she won't settle after waking up at night, unless brought into the big bed. (If only feeding works)! So I need some co-sleeping advice for the second half of the night.

Currently I put DD in between DH and I. We tried to pull the duvet a bit lower, but her feet is still covered by it. She's in her sleeping bag. I read on here that she should be on my side inside, instead of between us. But the problem is I can't fit a bedside cot on the side of the bed. The bedroom is long and narrow and the sides not even big enough for bedside tables. I looked at bed rails, but they all say for 18mo and above. Also, I couldn't see how it can be safe for a rolling, crawling sitting up 7mo. I'm sure the cheeky monkey can get over the rail.

So what do other MNetters do? Is it safe to leave her in between us?

I use a bed rail for my 10 m/o. I have had it for about 2 months. I know it says over 18 months but if my DS wakes in the night I hear him so it's not dangerous IMO because I can get to him before he pulls himself up on it.

Sometimes he goes in the middle of us but we all tend to sleep better when he is on my side in his sleeping bag while me and DH have the duvet.

ps, we do the same as you - put him to bed in his cot then bring him in when he wakes. A few weeks ago I was getting desperate to end the co-sleeping thing, but wierdly just as I was getting really stressed his sleeping improved and I am happy to have him with us for the second half of the night because he actually sleeps now, rather than messes around, crawls over me, etc!

Push your side of the bed flush against the wall? You may have to climb over DH or use the foot of the bed. My 5 month old DS very rarely sleeps between DH and I but he is massive and we have a king sized bed. DS is so protective of his sleeping space (think star jumps in his sleep) that DH and I end up teetering on the edge of our mattress.

We've pushed our big bed up against the wall and ds who is 9 mo either sleeps in the middle or between me and the wall (depending on which side he is bfing). I find he's warm enough in his babygro with the duvet up to his waist, he doesn't wear his grobag . I thought I'd hate the bed being against the wall as I can get a bit claustrophobic but its quite cosy

Thanks I will have a look at bed rails this weekend. Sadly I can't push the bed against the wall. One side is the radiator, the other our wardrobe.

Once DD moved into her own room at 6mo we put a rail up on our bed for the time she spends in with us. If she moves about a lot I tend to wake up and she is hobbled by her grobag so can't get too far before I catch her. She mostly only comes in for about half an hour in the morning now so tends to be awake and goes between us while we try to pretend that she isn't awake and we aren't either.