Early co-sleepers- do you stop once they are mobile?

[covenhope]

I have co-slept with DD since she was born. She is 6.5 months old and now mobile. I have been used to waking in the night to see a little head bobbing above my face for a couple of weeks but now she is moving backwards on hands and knees.

She hates the cot. I put her in it while I get ready for bed and she is straight onto all fours, goes backwards and ends up with her legs stuck through the cot bars, screaming in frustration. (it has solid ends but she always ends up across it). Move her and she bangs her head on her music/ light thing.

Generally I wake up if she makes a move but I'm worried she is going to either go backwards off the edge of the bed, or that she is going to get herself wrapped up in the pillows. It is a 6ft wide bed and I have pillows on the far edges each side.

How do people generally carry on during this stage where they are mobile but can't appreciate danger? (I didn't plan to co-sleep BTW but it followed a c-section and just carried on)

Hi, I co-slept with my DS for about the first 20 weeks. Like you I started because I'd had a c-section and it was just easier.

I slowly moved him from our bed to a cot but I used to do this once he was well asleep - often later in the evening. I started the move over as he was getting mobile and I was afraid he'd fall out of bed.

DS used to mobilise around the cot too and banged his head on the music mobile too. In addition he frequently slept right across it - sometimes with his arm hanging through the bars and getting icy cold.

Meant to add that it took a few weeks but then we didn't look back.

The night waking took a little longer though.

evenhope I'm exactly in your boat! Samuel is doing the exact same thing and is rubbish in his cot at night.

I will watch this thread with interest. I didn't co-sleep with my older 2 so have no experience of it. (They were also totally sleeping through by now )

Up til now I've just been relying on me waking up if he's on the move... prolly not that safe

We had a futon so there was no worry about them falling off as you're low down already. That's quite common among co-sleepers I think.

our just over 4.5 mth old sleeps in his cot half the night, then in with us for the rest. i wrap him up in waffle blanket, swaddle style and have a u shape pillow that i nestle him in. that and blanket wrap keeps him from moving about.

I had to stop because DS would climb out of bed, over any pillows I put up and just waddle off and end up crying with tiredness, but not wanting to lie in bed! A bedside cot squeezed a few more months out of him, we could snuggle, but he was pretty blocked in.

I can't move her after she's asleep because she won't go to sleep until at least 10.30 and only in my bed (I'm thinking rods and backs here ).

I might try moving the cot up tight against the bed. I'm a bit worried about her getting stuck between 2 bits of furniture. I'll also have a look at that guidance if I can find it. Thanks for your comments everyone.

Hi muppet

I've got one of those rods too She's almost 20 month and have co-slept from birth (definitely wasn't planned). When she started crawling (7 months), I put her in a sleep sack which hampered her progress long enough for me to wake. Also put guards on either side of the bed and an old duvet at the foot of the bed, just in case.

Now, the mattress is on the floor, which is much better. There's a fleece blanket on the floor and when she falls out of bed (maybe once a week), she just snoozes away on the fleece and doesn't even wake.