Moving on from next-to-me crib

[BerthaYoung]

Hi everyone. DD is 5 months and we’ve been using the Tutti Bambini Cozee next to the bed with the side down since birth. The official weight limit is 9kg and she must be near that (she hasn’t been weighed for months, because Covid, but was 5.3kg at 9 weeks). She’s also getting much more active and I think might appreciate space to roll over. But she wakes up ten million times a night so I’d rather have easy access, and certainly don’t plan to be traipsing to another room any time soon. What do people do? We have an IKEA cot, could we sidecar that? What happens once baby starts crawling? Any tips welcome! Thanks.

I just use a travel cot by my bed once the next-to-me crib gets too small.

I put the cot next to our bed so he could see me and still put my hand in to pat etc

I can only speak about my own experience which has been decidedly mixed.

We used a Chicco next to me for both ours! Our DD was a miracle sleeper so we just moved her into her own bed room at around 9 months without much fuss. We did find that her sleep improved in her own room and she's barely had an interrupted night's sleep since (as said miracle sleep). So you might find that she sleeps better in her own space, where she can stretch out a bit.

Our DS is a different beast - he only wanted to sleep on me (all night - it was awful) and any attempt at moving him (just into the chicco) was a scream fest. So we delayed introducing him to the cot . This was a stupid mistake and we only managed to get him into his own bed at about 15months with the help of a sleep consultant (this is expensive).
Start some sort of sleep training - whatever system works for you is good (everyone has a view on this it seems).

Once they're crawling it just depends on the child. DD never crawled out of bed, DS did ... but DD is a climber and frequently tried to escape her cot - so far DS hasn't even tried and he's 18months now.

Thanks everyone! I’m reassured by your responses that the question isn’t entirely stupid...!

I think we will try the big cot in our room first. @Thesearmsofmine I hadn’t really thought that the slats mean you and baby can still see and reach each other.

@Woolly17 It’s so interesting to see how different each baby is! Alas I don’t think we’ve quite got a miracle sleeper ...😏) but your advice about not leaving it too late to transition is really helpful. I currently feed to sleep but we’re thinking of trying to start to work towards baby falling asleep independently, which I guess would help. (If we get there!)

@Somethingsnappy We’re going to need a travel cot once we’re allowed to visit people again! What do you have, and would you recommend it?