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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

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Original poster

BFing and co-sleeping safety?

14 replies

JacqueslePeacock · 20/11/2011 15:58

I am happily BFing and co-sleeping with 10-week-old DS, who curls up on the crook of my arm and sleeps peacefully in a gro-bag, away from pillows and duvet. However, I am wondering what happens when he gets to the stage where he can roll and move about more.

How can I prevent him from rolling out of bed while I'm asleep? I had a look at bed guard rails, but they all seem to be suitable only from 18 months. Is there any way to make the bed safer for younger babies?

Thanks all!

OP posts:

LittleWaveyLines · 20/11/2011 16:04

I have a sidecar cot that DD never spends much time in - just the first sleep of the night - but means she can't roll out on that side. I make sure I have rolled up towels under the sheet on the far side so our mattresses fit together smoothly. Not that she's ever rolled while asleep anyway - she just gets on her side to feed, then flops back on her back - maybe you will find the same!

I am finding that neither of us move much while asleep anyway, and I sleep very very lightly so would know if she was close to the edge. I'm more worried about leaving her asleep upstairs with me downstairs once she gets crawling... so am interested in what others have to say on that bit!

Original poster

JacqueslePeacock · 20/11/2011 21:30

Thanks, LittleWaveyLines, that's good to know. Do you mean that you put her down for naps in your bed too then? Or in the sidecar cot? We don't have a sidecar cot, so that's not really an option for us (unless we decide to splash out on one, although that probably doesn't make that much sense given he sleeps in the main bed with us).

Anyone else have any solutions?

OP posts:

Booboostoo · 20/11/2011 21:41

Can you put the bed against a wall? Or the mattress on the floor?

Booboostoo · 20/11/2011 21:42

(as an aside, can you tell I have been reading Dr Seuss books??? )

lilham · 20/11/2011 21:46

I only co sleep after 7mo DD woke up during the the night as I cba to re-settle her in the cot. (She wants us and won't be fed to sleep)! Shes sleeping next to a pillow put longways where DH would be sleeping last week as DH was away. She hasnt rolled off that side yet since she always wake me up first if she's stirring. She doesn't really roll when asleep. I've ordered a bed rail but hasn't arrived yet.

JeelyPiece · 20/11/2011 21:49

We co-sleep and use this bed guard which means DS can't roll out of our bed. At almost 8 months though he's getting more mobile so I'm not sure what we're going to do when he can crawl around the bed!

LittleWaveyLines · 20/11/2011 22:15

Naps? What are they? Any catnaps she has are downstairs on my lap or in the sling - 30,mins max so not worth resettling her upstairs.

Actually we have the bed guard linked above as well fr when we are away - and it is great, and looks pretty safe to me for a wee one - as long as you don't leave them unattended for ages, and keep an ear open to the monitor for movement it should be fine, surely? I hear every rustle!

deviladvocate · 20/11/2011 22:27

I've used a bed rail while co-sleeping with three DC's. IME there's little likelihood of baby rolling in the opposite direction to your boobswhere you are

You could roll up a small blanket and tuck it into the space between the bed rail and the bed to be absolutely certain baby can't get into that space when you're not in the bed. Just keep the monitor on and you'll be fine!

Original poster

JacqueslePeacock · 22/11/2011 10:50

Thanks very much - really helpful suggestions. I'm glad to know they don't tend to roll as much as I'd feared, and I will definitely look again at those bed guards as they sound like they would work (especially with a blanket or towel blocking the gap).

"Naps? What are they?"
It's good to hear that I'm not the only one whose baby naps generally ON them!

OP posts:

marzipananimal · 22/11/2011 11:52

The bed rail sounds like a good idea.

DS (14m) very rarely comes into our bed but the other week DH was away and DS was unsettled so I brought him in with me. I was sound asleep when he rolled off the edge off the bed. I, however, caught him before he hit the floor. He didn't even wake up! I was well impressed with my super maternal instinct reflexes especially as we don't normally cosleep

ReshapeWhileDamp · 25/11/2011 12:58

I'm not sure why they say bedrails are suitable for 18 months on. As far as I can tell, they're the same ones the MWs were pushing in hospital when I had DS1 and they were encouraging us to feed in bed!

Perhaps it's a matter of a small gap between rail and mattress, but more likely just the manufacturers covering themselves. What we've done is have DS2 in bed with us without a guard until about 12 weeks, and then when he started moving around a bit, we set up the Ikea cotbed with the mattress on the same height setting as our own (this meant getting two mattresses from Ikea, but cheap as chips) so DS2 theoretically had his own cosleeper cot. He never used it, but it was there, and he couldn't roll out. We shoved the mattress next to ours by using a couple of rolled towels.

Now he goes down in the evening and I come back downstairs again (yay), we reluctantly took the mattress level down, and put the side back on, so he goes in that of an evening and comes out at bedtime. The side of the cot forms an effective rail to keep him beside me. I wake if he stirs, anyway.

KnockedUpMell · 28/11/2011 17:09

My DS is now 8.5m and for the past month or so I haven't put him down in our bed for naps as he will wake quietly and start moving around, and I once found him 6 inches from the foot of the bed when I had left the room for a minute! Please consider getting a travel cot. We got this which isn't particularly expensive, and is handy for when we are travelling / visiting friends. We also use a bedrail, and my DS is only in bed if I am there too as I always wake when he starts to stir. Pushing the bed alongside a wall is fine if you're going to be in bed with them too, but if not, it is not safe enough as they can crawl to the other edge / foot of the bed!

lilham · 28/11/2011 17:13

My DD is only in my bed if I'm there too. I hope no one misunderstood and think I left a rolling baby on an adult bed . She naps in her cot during the day -after I moved her into it completely asleep-.

KnockedUpMell · 28/11/2011 17:25

I (rather naively) hadn't realised we'd need a day time cot and had assumed he could nap in our bed as I'm always in the room / have the monitor on and respond to the slightest rustle if I'm in another room. And it was only after the close call we had that I realised that wan't safe enough as it only takes a second for him to wake and crawl (soundlessly) to the bed edges. We don't have a regular cot either (like the OP) and didn't want to get one as it would not be used much and would take up space unnecessarily- found the travel cot we got to be a great compromise!

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