Co sleeping with roller/crawler

[JessieMcJessie]

DS is coming up for 7 months and the sleep routine we have developed is that he goes down in the sidecar cot at 8ish then usually wakes up hungry any time between 12 and 3, when i bring him into bed to bf lying down and we then cosleep till morning (7ish) with him feeding as and when required. I barely wake up for the feeds so am not actually all that sure how often he is feeding.

On occasion if I am awake enough I'll try to pop him back in his crib after a feed but he rarely settles without being brought into bed.

This is all lovely and cosy but I am concerned about the cosleeping continuing once he is properly mobile and could wake up and fall out of bed.

I do also want to get more control over the night feeding, so as to reduce it, and eventually for him to move to his own room. I feel that we should sort this out before he can crawl. Does anyone have any thoughts or tips on this situation?

I'm not prepared to move our mattress to the floor.

Can you put bed guards on the side of your bed if you want to continue as you are?

We have bed guards too instead of co sleeper.

Thanks. We've used a bed guard on holiday and it worked well but would a bed guard be secure enough for a crawler/climber? What if he crawled to the end or tried to pull himself up? Also not sure I'd want them on 3 sides of the bed.

Oh, also, removing the crib would mean that he went down to sleep in the bed from the outset which is not what we want.

It was at this point that I had to stop Cosleeping. Especially once baby realised how much fun they could have trying to head dive navigate off the bed, suddenly there was no interest in sleep. Plus I was going to bed at 7.30 as we hadn't even managed to convince little one to sleep in the side cot at all. As you manage the initial going down in the side cot, I would build on that. We transferred to own room and cot at this stage, despite the protests.

I cosleep with my 10 month old. We have put the mattress on the floor. It means we can put her to bed and then when she is asleep leave the room. To be honest if she was in bed with me all the time it would not be needed as she sleeps in my arms so I know when she is awake but I would not sleep so well in a normal bed.

DS will presumably need to move into a big cot soon as the side cots aren't very deep. You can still bring him into your bed in the night and you (and DP?) will act as a barrier to the side of the bed, maybe?

Thanks Gin. How often was the baby waking in the night to feed when you did the transfer?

We used foam bed wedges which are softer than a traditional bed guard. We then put them on DD's bed when she transitioned into a single which worked really well because she was already used to sleeping with them. She actually uses them for comfort now and almost snuggles into it. She's never fallen out or climbed down.

My 9 month old now starts the nights off in her cot in her own room and then comes into bed with us at the first wake up after we've gone to bed (usually about 1230-1am). She sleeps in between us but we've got a big bed so there's a lot of space around her. We're gradually working on extending the amount of the night she spends in her own room.

She was about 7 months when we moved her out of the crib, I think.

While sleeping with us, she was pretty much attached to the boob most of the night, she'd maybe come off for an hour but every time she stirred in bed with me she would look for boob. Once we moved her to the own room/cot she continued to wake every 2 hours so we had to try and deal with that!!! Now she wakes once or twice, sometimes three times and will have boob then back into cot. Interestingly, since she got mobile at the age your little one is, I simply haven't been able to cosleep at any point- she just can't associate our bed with sleep, she just wants to piss around interact with us or climb/explore (she is just over a year now) even at 2am!

Thanks everyone. Put him in own cot last night but moved him back into crib and swiftly back in beside me when we came to bed. I'm not sure I'm quite ready for separation yet, never mind what he thinks .