The nursery... Single bed a good idea?

[Bellyrub1980]

We're thinking about squeezing a single bed into our nursery for the nights when DP is desperate for sleep and the baby can't. The idea being that either me and the baby or DP will go in there.

Did you do this? Did it work as planned?

We done exactly that and it worked great for us and occasionally when dh was off work I would sleep there and he would have baby that night. At least then one of us would havd sleep.

It's a great idea! Our first dd was awful for the first month (night/day mixed up and colicky) and we spent a lot of time alternating between sleeping on the sofa! If you've got the space you may as well do it, you might find you don't use it, my second dd is totally different, slept very well at night from day 1 but we've still had bad nights when she's been teething etc and luckily we have spare rooms now so one of us has gone in the spare room when things have got bad!

This is what I have planned. My dh does not cope without sleep and he does a lot of driving and Im worried he wont be safe. He also needs to be on the ball at work as he works for himself.

I also don't cope well without sleep but I have my parents/dgp on hand who are more than happy to help out in any way so in theory I can catch up throughout the day. I only plan to do this for the first three months then re-assess.

Id rather one of us was sane than us both losing sleep- that's when we argue.

I think my dh thinks or at least thought this was a bit weird but he understands that I have his best interests at heart and its only temporary.

We have the Ikea Hemnes Day Bed. In fact, most people we know have it in their nursery. Works perfectly for us as it's now DD's bed or if we have guests she sleeps on a ready bed in our room.

Yes, this is a great idea. We did this and used it to make sure one of us was getting a good nights sleep when dd was still in our room, and to stay near her when she was in her own room and poorly or had nightmares. There was also the added bonus that when she was 18 maths she just declared she was going to sleep in the big bed now, and made the transition very easily.

It's a great idea. In DD's nursery we had a sofa that I could sleep on. In DS's nursery space was a bit cramped so I had a blow up matress leaning against the wall behind the door for nights when I needed to sleep on the floor.
Best of all is having a spare room where DH can sleep and being able to co-sleep uninterrupted.

Thanks for that. It feels like a logical thing to do but haven't ever met anyone who has done it. Love the idea of the ikea day bed. X

13 months on and we still use i. If DS is sick he'll go into our big bed with one of us and the other gets a few hours sleep on the single bed. It's been brilliant to have.

Yes would be ideal, I spent many a night asleep on a wooden floor or blow up bed and always think that a proper bed would be what I want when I have another

We've got the sofabed in ours, we're going to 'hot-bed' during the rough nights!

One of the main bits if advice I give anyone having a baby is to have a bed in every room :)

We have never ever had to do that awful standing over the cot for hours thing, or trying to stay awake with a baby in a chair. My entire house is a safe co-sleeping area

Now baby is 21 months and I am heavily pregnant it is usually boyfriend who just kips with her in the bed next to the cot if needed while I can get proper sleep. Everyone sleeps. Brilliant.

Ours is just a double mattress on a futon by the way. Might not be the most showroom of nurseries but everyone sleeps!!

Exactly, I'm not too bothered how it looks (it will be cramped) but I figure sleep is so precious it's worth it!!

Totally worth it. My (ex) husband used to get really narky about "broken sleep" of me getting up in the night to go to DD1's cot in our room. There was a spare bed in the nursery. So I just moved her cot in there and slept there. (of course i should have claimed the bigger room then).
But in a more 'reasonable' relatiinship i can see it being just handy. Rather than essential. Well worth it.

Yep definitely get one - just check it doesn't squeak in anyway. I got one and every turn I made in bed, the springs squeaked and stirred the baby.

Good idea! I'll do this too. Just need to decide whether to buy a single bed or use the z-bed we've got.

We're setting up two bedrooms - me in our normal one with the kid for a few months (probably won't make it to the recommended 6 months), and him in the spare room during the week (and possibly at weekends too).

Once I'm back at work, the kid has to be in its own room so I can co-sleep with my partner again! We're already sort of in two rooms, since it's so bloody hot I can't bear being near anyone.

I'm planning to do something similar and have two bedrooms set up for the first 6 months - one I can co-sleep in with baby, and one for OH to get quality sleep when he is working.

Do it! We got a cheap ikea single bed and we keep it made up. For the first few months the baby was in with us, but it has really come into its own in the later stages over the last two years - once night feeds were no longer a thing, there were still frequent stretches of teething, sickness, nightmares, ditching the dummy. Not to mention the 8-12 months age where my son was up and ready to play at or before 6am every day, so whoever was on morning duty could give milk, nappy change, dump a load of toys in the cot and hop back into the bed beside the cot for a quick doze - while still being on hand if needed. (That was what we did to give the other parent a proper lie in, one each day of the weekend, when we weren't really feeling it ourselves!)

You are all so nice to your other halves :)

You may find it is YOU who needs the real sleep once in a while and giving birth and looking after babies is more tiring than lots of jobs, ha. Dads can co-sleep with babies too...

I exclusively breastfed and still ran away for real sleep a lot! Just being fetched for feeds is much less tiring than doing the entire feed, change, wind, re settle cycle.

We always had a couch bed/futon or a double bed in DD2's room (DD1 wasn't so lucky, we only had space from when she was 18 months). It's great for nights when she isn't well or is having a disturbed night, even now she is nearly 3.

And DD1 moves in there to have a "sleepover" whenever MIL visits and needs her bed.

I don't understand why people do the whole change when they feed at night - way to make a rod for your own back! We just latch on, eat, wind a bit when they're very little nd go back to sleep. OH sleeps in the bed with us and never found it particularly disturbing. Neither did I.

Are some babies just fussy about not having a bone dry nappy? Mine couldn't care less unless they've pooed.

We had/have a spare bed. It's set up for co-sleeping so has been used for that a lot. Also, if we have guests we can stick the cot back in our room.

My baby used to poo with every single feed until she was about 3 months old. Maybe this one will be different!

Have had it both ways and would definitely recommend a single bed in the nursery. The money won't be wasted as you can use it as their big kid bed when they're older.