arm's reach mini co-sleeper

[booboobunny]

hi, i'm wondering if anyone else has this product and can give me the benefit of their wisdom please.

i have just had my third child and purchased this item to allow me to co-sleep with the new baby without stopping my other 2 (aged 3 and 4) plopping themselves into our bed in the night if they want. it seemed the perfect product for us and i've been really excited about using it. however i've come to set it up and to be honest i am now really a bit scared of it. it has so many caveats and warnings attached to it that i'm worried about using it in the co-sleeping position.

chief warning is never leave your baby unattended in it? well i want to put her down to sleep in it in the early evening and come to bed a bit later myself. the warning suggests this isn't possible. also i can get the co-sleeper level (at best) with my mattress but definitely not below it, which the warnings state is preferrable. our bed doesn't seem unduly low so i must be doing something wrong? or misunderstanding the instructions?

of anyone else has any experience of this product and its limitations i'd be really pleased to hear from you as at the current time i'm a bit fearful of using it in the co-sleeping position making it a very expensive, small travel cot really. thanks

I gave up on idea of the arms reach for similar reason but used a co-sleeping cot instead (one side missing). It is am afraid a very expensive travelcot. I think so long as your baby isn't rolling they will be fine (my dd was)- we also used a sleep positioner with her but now they aren't recomended either - but she was fine in it til she started rolling everywhere at 4 months- so we put up the sidea little bit (it was a mothercare drop side cot but with co sleeping option so side would slide under cot too) which worked but more faff to pull her into bed with me for night feeds. Then she evolved into sleeping all night in her amby hammock (love love love this product) and now she is getting to big for it (9months) she is now back in her cot with all sides up and in her own room as she is too active to be left in a co-sleeping cot now!

Oh and our co-sleeping cot was pretty much level with our very high bed- much easier- our instructions recommended not having the cot matress below I think due to suffocation risk- but while they are tiny newborns then aren't going to be rolling over into the mattress really anyway.