co-sleeping advice - bed rails?

[sleepyrobin]

thinking of co-sleeping with 3mo DS and have been doing lots of research into doing this safely.

Would mumsnetters who already co-sleep mind posting whether they use a rail attached to the bed to stop baby from falling out? and if so, any recommendations for what type of rail you use?

Hope this question isn't too thick - all advice welcome

I use a foam bed guard under the bed sheet. I'd read scare stories about bed guards and scared myself silly! I use the same bed guards for my toddler too.

here

Thanks Iggly, looks like just what we need :)

All the women in my immediate family have done this for generation's without any problems. My DH and I had the crib all ready to go but when my DD was about a month old and seemed to not want to sleep in her baby basket anymore, I wasn't ready to put her alone in such a big crib, so she started sleeping with us. TBH I am surprised with myself for not doing it sooner but I think I was waiting for her to be a little less fragile really.

DH is a heavier sleeper than I am so I kept an eye on his movements at night but we both seemed to instinctively move toward the side edges of the bed as soon as baby started sleeping with us. We unfortunately only have a queen sized bed so this meant months of squashed up sleeping arrangements for him and I as we had baby sleep between us for warmth, and security in knowing she wouldn't drop over the edge.

Personally I think co-sleeping is great if you are sure in your ability to not sleep too heavily with baby next to you and even better if baby can sleep between you SAFELY. We don't drink heavily or smoke BTW.

My DD has moved into her crib recently but still sleeps with me for a quick nap in the morning and I just use 2 or 3 pillows we have lying around to keep her from rolling off the bed, they work great!

thanks for the advice - very reassuring. i have brought him into bed a few times and know that i stay very aware of his movements even when asleep. dh is a really deep sleeper though so i would always put myself between him and baby - hence the question about rails as ds will be more mobile soon.

feel like people (family) will be judgey but surely it's natural for mum and baby to sleep next to each other? ds always settles best when snuggled up with me. i usually transfer him to his cot once he's asleep but it's not so easy to do this now that he's bigger. last night he kept waking when i moved him and we were both tired and grumpy all day from such a disturbed night.

I co-slept with all three of mine (not simultaneously!) until a couple of months ago. We had a baby dan rail with a metal tube frame and mesh inserts that could be folded for travelling. I've since seen a much nicer looking one (although would be less convenient for travel)here

I tended to kick Dh out to the spare room while co-sleeping in the early stages, it was nice to have the space and not be worrying about disturbing him when they woke for a feed, just used a pillow between baby and the edge then. i'd leave baby in the middle and switch sides for each feed. As they got a little older and DH came back the bed rail was really useful to be able to make use of the whole bed without falling out myself!

X-posts! I loved co-sleeping with mine, cozy and comforting for baby and much less effort for me. We wasted months trying to get our eldest to settle in a cot- she hated it. didn't even have one in the house for 2nd or 3rd. Take a look at askdrsears.com, i found it very reassuring.

here's the dr sears article

thanks for the advice and articles - still can't get over judgey voices in my head when he is sleeping happily in our bed so transferred him to his cot last night - fortunately he didn't wake when I moved him last night. Will read over the articles and see how we get on - thanks for the help

Do you have the space for a bedside cot? I cosleep with dd in one of these. Well, she starts the night in it, anyway. By morning she has usually snuggled over onto my bed. I like it because I have somewhere to shove encourage her over to if I want a bit more space.

I love cosleeping. We all get a lot more sleep this way!

that might work for us - the extra space would have been great last night when dh decided to sprawl out like a starfish in the middle of the bed while i was trying to settle baby. thanks for the suggestion - will look into it

We had a bedside cot from eBay. Was perfect for us, as we were able to co sleep with a bit more room, and not worry about falling out either. Once she was older we gradually got her used to a cot by raising the side, but keeping her next to the bed, before moving DD and the cot into her own room at about 14-18 mths (at which point she would still come up and finish the night in our bed most nights . She's now 2.5 and does a pretty good job of sleeping all night in her toddler bed, has a wee in the potty when she wakes, then comes up to us at 6ish .

Also, if you already have a cot, you don't necessarily need to get another 'bedside' one. If you or DH are a little bit handy it should be quite easy to take the side off a standard cot, measure up and drill holes for the base so that it matches your bed, and secure it to your bed with cable ties or similar.

thanks, will look into the bedside cots - will need a long one as ds is really tall. dh and i totally inept at diy will have a look online - thanks!

We have the mothercare rail although it says that it's from 18 months old, we've used it since ds can roll. He pretty quickly learnt to get off the bed safely.