Co sleeping interest..

[Doodle1983]

How do you co sleep safely? We have a king sized bed but wondering where baby goes ? What do you do about covers em and pillows. DS is 6 weeks and currently in his Moses basket. He sleeps ok ish but generally after his 6am feed I bring him into our bed as he doesn't settle and we all get an extra hours rest. I'm scared to sleep tho and not sure on safe positioning. He's FF if it makes any difference ?

Tar

I can't believe no ones answered this! There's loads of cosleepers on here.
We put baby in a sleep suit and sleeping bag and she sleeps next to me on the outside (so not between me and DH) I have my head on the pillow and she is a bit further down, about nipple height and my left arm lies above her. My body is kind of like a protective "frame" around her IYSWIM? I wear a jumper to bed so I don't get cold as the duvet is covering me from the waist down.
I bf so I don't know how ff works in the night but don't think it would make a massive difference..and honestly wouldn't worry about rolling onto her or anything--I find I'm super aware of my baby even in deep sleep.
Maybe look into a bed nest or 3sided cot as well?
Cosleeping is lovely, I always feel pretty well rested and the snuggles in the night are pretty great too.

My health visitor pointed me in the direction of the Lullaby Trust when I asked her about bed sharing.

I'm not sure if it's a good thing with a FF baby. It's often advised with a BF baby because you have more of a physical bond. I always tell mums to be aware of the dangers which are suffocation. So you need to be aware that you may roll into the baby so don't co-sleep if you've been drinking or taking drugs. With a BF baby we would advise that baby sleeps on the edge of the bed away from dad who will not have the same awareness of baby. Keep soft bedding away from baby so no pillow or quilt. The other danger comes from baby rolling into small gaps so stuff any gaps at side of mattress with rolled up towels if bed is against a wall.
Have you thought about turning your cot into a co-sleeper instead ie take one of the sides off and place it against your mattress. Fill any gaps with rolled up towels.
Hope you find a solution that you're happy with.

We bought an ordinary crib and took one side off it, pushed it up against our bed and secured it with bungee ropes. Luckily it is exactly the same height as our bed.

Dd is now 14mo and prefers to sleep between me and dp, but the cat sleeps in the crib so it's still being used

Thanks. My bed isn't up against a wall so he would maybe just roll out of bed on the end?! Ha
He's so too small for a sleeping bag but that is a great idea and solves the blanket problem. Maybe in a few months he'll be big enough!

Most gro bags go from about 8lb up I think? Is he a lot smaller than that?

If he's still too small for a sleeping bag then he might be too small for co-sleeping - premature or low birthweight babies shouldn't bedshare. Bedsharing is also less safe for FF babies - babies should only sleep next to the person breastfeeding them as the hormones mean your sleep cycles regulate.

There's some info here:
www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Baby_Friendly/Leaflets/caringatnight_web.pdf

I meant sleeping bag!

We have a BabyBay co sleeper cot. It is great. Cheaper to buy directly from Germany.

Yes he was a low birth weight and I reckon only about 7lb now at 6wk. I don't think full on co sleeping is for us but I would like to have him in bed for the hour before get up if he's unsettled. I don't want to do this if unsafe though and think ill always probably be awake and not fully settled.
I missed on bf this time but next time I will more adamant with it.

I can't justify the purchase of a different basket or cot for just an hour each morning either - Unless I look in our local second hand sales..

I got our crib from eBay for about 20 quid, the proper co sleeping ones were more. Make sure you buy a new mattress though.

When dd was teeny tiny I made a huge pile of pillows to cocoon me in a semi reclined position (the inly way i was comfortable) and she slept on my chest. We shared a fleecy baby blanket with the duvet from waist down

From about 8 weeks I slept curled round her in a similar way a pp described. In what I think of as the heart position. So my arm curled up round the top of her head and my body curled round her. We still shared the fleecy blanket

From about 4 months I put an ordinary cot up against our bed with one side off. I used a duvet as a bottom sheet so there was no gap and in this way we transition her into her own bed.

By 6 months she was feeding to sleep on a futon in her room.

By 8 months I was feeding her sitting up in a chair and putting her in her cot to go to sleep and leaving the room.

By a year we were snuggling on the edge of her cot bed reading a story.

Despised what some people would have you believe not all co-sleepers still breast feed and co sleep with their 35yo

I would argue that the reason pp had no responses at 2.40 is that co-sleepers were... Sleeping

Despised = despite

Herrena I really hope we have that sort of progression with our DD, it sounds ideal!

OP my DD is 5 weeks and we have done as described by PPs (heart position) since day 3 (? I think) - I was nervous at first but not any more.