Bed rails for bed sharing with 5 month old?

[Monikita]

I'm currently bed sharing with my 5mo DD (breastfeeding issues and now getting back on track).

I read that the baby shouldn't be sandwiched between mum and dad but it should go baby, mum in the middle and then dad. That's what we do and it's fine but I'm worried about her falling out and was wondering if anyone used a bedrail for an adult bed - if so, what brand for this sort of age? she's only little and weighs around 12lbs.

Apparently you're not supposed to have the bed against a wall either so I haven't done that but putting my mattress on the floor isn't an option.

Much safer to have the little one in a cot right next to the bed. Not to put too fine a point it she is at risk from you rolling onto her and suffocating her as well as falling out. Cot solves both and shouldn't be too different if it is v close.

Safe co-sleeping is absolutely fine. I use this bed rail on one side of a double bed. It folds out at 90 degrees and you slide one section under the mattress. There's also a strap to go right under the matress with a weighted end. In a single bed this plus right out, but in a double it just sits underneath. It wouldn't stop a baby who can pull up, but it stops them rolling.

On the other side (just me in bed, so we switch sides bf) I have one of these which I used for my DS when his cot sides came off and for the first few months in a single bed. It works equally well but you do need a deep fitted sheet or it'll stretch the sheet too tight, so nt as cheap as it seems at first, but it'll be useful again later.

HTH

Dont use a bed rail, baby can get wedged between it and the mattress. Put your mattress on the floor, kick dp out of bed or put bed next to wall, or put something soft but not suffocating on floor. Once babies start rolling, cosleeping is tricky

Thanks HPsauce I had seen those but wasn't sure I could use them for a 5 month old. Is the baby dan one portable as well? Could be useful if we stay at friends' houses.

I understand your concern stella1w (I used to worry too) but I've looked at so much of the research on this and it seems that safe bedsharing is fine. In fact, among Asian families where bedsharing is the norm, there seems to be a lower incidence of SIDS (the higher rate among Caucasian families is attributed to parents who smoke and drink practising this).

It's recommended not to put the bed against the wall as the baby is more likely to get wedged in and suffocate (much like sleeping on a sofa). A bed rail is recommended as the mesh allows them to breathe.

For most of the time we have been using a cot next to the bed but DD has just had her tongue tie fixed and needs to practise using it properly. We've been advised by breastfeeding counsellors and yes, even HVs to have a go at skin-to-skin safe bedsharing so she can feed when she's relaxed and drop her tongue. It has been working and she's now getting a bit chubbier .

Hi OP, we bed share and have an ikea gulliver cot with the side taken off, pushed up against our bed. She never sleeps in the cot, but it gives you much more room, and no way of falling out

Yes it's portable. It doesn't come up massively above the mattress, maybe 20cm ish, so no good once they can sit themseleves up and climb over, so its going to have a limited lfespan for you. If your cot fits there, why not just push the cot up to the bed and tie on (string around cot, under mattress and tie around bed castors) and use that? Or take the side off if the mattress is the same height and do the same as bora suggests.

The cot we have is a travel cot - that's the only thing that fits next to the bed but it's really low down (it's almost like a play pen). I would put her proper cot against the bed (it's in the nursery) but it's MAHOOSIVE! I don't mind about the rail not lasting too long - we're just planning to do this until her feeding is sorted and I see consistent weight gain. We plan to move her back to the travel cot and then to her nursery after that.

We had a side car cot (ie one side off) but transitioned to cosleeping at 5 mths. It can be done safely with a bedrail. Kiddicare have loads. They do work, our dd woke up recently with 'bedrail' mesh imprint on her face as she had been happily sleeping against it without her or us noticing for some time. Just be careful re overheating, no pillows, quilt out of way (I used to use sleeping bag) and dress baby lightly as they get lots of mummy's tummy heat. I am glad we did it - it just made sense to us re attachment and sleep and after being in the cot our dd still comes in during the night for a cuddle. Love it.

Sorry - just to say we now have cot against my bed with a piece of foam plugging the gap - so the cot is the bedrail now: best to think now what you'll do when they can sit up and crawl!