If you have one of those co-sleeper cots, what happens when they outgrow it?

[BertieBotts]

I am talking about the ones you can buy ready made like the next2me or the snuzpod, not a converted cot.

Had a converted one for DS a million years ago because you couldn't buy a sidecar cot in the shops then.

Now pregnant again and need to decide whether to convert or buy ready made. DH is a bit nervous about converting and would be happier with a proper one but has said he'll let me choose. I know the ikea ones are pretty sturdy so would probably go with that as a safe bet.

I see those proper co-sleepers seem to last until about 6 months or so. The one we're looking at is 90cm long but has a ridiculous weight limit so it's not limited by age of baby, just their size. Amazon reviews suggest between 6 and 12 months depending on how big they are.

So if you had one - what did you do? Did you keep using it as a bed guard instead of a sleep space? Just have the baby closer to you? Did you move them out (were you ready?) or can they sort of go half in it? I know I'm being a big old softy but I almost definitely won't be ready for them to move out at 6 months and am not really sure about 12 months either I don't expect our baby to be massively long because neither DH or I are tall.

We used our Snuzpod until around 7 or 8 months. He still fit in it after that time but as he got more mobile I was worried he'd climb up and fall over the side!

Once he outgrew the cosleeper we moved DS into a cotbed which we put at the foot of our bed, and then moved the whole thing into his own room about 10 months.

Snuzpod until 6.5 months then cot bed in own room.

If you use a converted normal cot or a dropside one they can sleep half in as there’s no hard edge or gap between your mattress and theirs.

Cosleeper then put a cot bed next to our bed with one side off for quite a long time -till ds was nearly 2 I think

My DD was crawling at 5 months so the next to me type things would have been useless from then on for her.

My SIL had one and her DC had grown out of it by 5 months, but they are quite a tall family.

You need to check the height of your bed as well as none of the 'ready made' ones went high enough to fit properly with our deep mattress on an otherwise ordinary divan bed. For that reason we stuck with taking the side off an ordinary cot bed which had the added benefit of not then having to transition into one at whatever point they grew out of the side car cot if we had gone with that.

Will be doing the same again with DC2 as I felt it worked well for us and why change!

Yeah I know with the converted ones - the one we're looking at has a smooth edge with no gap or hard surface, too. It's literally just the size which is putting me off.

I wouldn't leave a mobile baby unattended in the bed anyway so I'm not too worried about climbing. You get the same issue with a converted cot.

Oh interesting. I don't think our bed is that high but I'll have a look.

Well no, as soon as she started crawling/climbing we put the side back on and dropped the base down a level so she couldn't get out. You cant do that with a ready made side car so as soon as it becomes a risk you would have to change to a proper cot.

Of course you would be there all the time, but you wouldnt necessarily be there AND awake

Snuzpod until 6 months, then cot bed in our room (not converted) for a few months, then in to her own room.

I don't know, I never really worried about it with DS. I don't particularly want them to be contained I know that makes me a bit bonkers. I don't think I ever slept so deeply that I would have been unaware of him making a run for it, I tended to wake up if he did anything.