Confused over the logistics of a bedside cot - please help!

[Anglepoise]

I really like the idea of having LO in a dropside cot next to our bed so that I can just reach over and grab him or her for night feeds, plus have easy eye contact etc. However, having a ginormous cot next to the bed means I can't get in to bed! or that I have to kind of clamber in while holding the baby, which seems a bit unsafe.

How are other people doing this? Do you push the cot away from the bed, put the baby in, then pull it back over or what? I feel very foolish!

nah you just climb in round the end, it's fine.
or put baby down in cot and then climb into bed

I agree it's a bit of a clamber but annoying rather than unsafe ime. as thisisyesterday says maybe put the baby in then get into bed.

We're using a crib with the side taken off then bungee-banded to the bed so I can just drag DS towards me for nightfeeds.
Sounds like your cot is bigger than our crib but I still had to get rid of my bedside table otherwise I was having to scoot to the end of the bed to get out every time. Can you gain any room by moving or getting rid of any other furniture?

Wow, fast replies, thanks

I can live with annoying - it was DH who thought it would be unsafe. And it hadn't occurred to me to put LO in from the other side (someone's also just pointed out that the foot to foot thing means that s/he'll be down the other end of the cot, which hadn't occurred to me either!).

We're just moving in (literally) so can arrange the furniture any way we want - I've already lost the bedside table to DH, so there's room to push the cot away from the bed to get in and out then pull it over again.

I guess we'll work something out, I just wondered if we were missing anything obvious!

would it be safe do you think tot just take the one side off a cot..with maybe a bit of reinforcing..big problem you see.my 12 month old wont sleep very well without me near him which i dont mind but hes such a restless sleeper...he roams all over the bed honest..ive never seen anything like it but if he was in the cot next to me it would at least give me more room without getting wacked in the face or kicked in the boobs/stomach you name it..he has always been an active baby since tiny,,ive tried letting him sleep in his own bed but he wakes himself up by hitting himself against the bars or wedging himself across ways plus he gets upset if hes not near me too!!!..what on earth can i do to get some sleep..a years sleep deprivation is really getting to me..sorry for hijacking thread but didnt know where to put this thread..anybody got any ideas without rresorting to paying out alot for bedside cot that he probably wont use for long..hes a a big baby and will grow out of his cot soon at this rate

Hi bambi - I've heard a few people say that they've taken the side off a cot and put in a couple of extra screws, so I think it's possible, though I've never tried it myself. Good luck!

Hi bambi, we took the side off our cot. It was perfectly fine without reinforcing. The only thing was there was a slight gap between cot and bed where the wooden edges meet IFSWIM. We just stuffed pillows down and all was well. I really found it helped with similar problems to those you're having- hope you get some good sleep soon.

i might get hubby to try and take them off a the weekend

Our crib has been fine with the side taken off. With DD is was tied on with string which made it creaky when anyone moved in bed, so with DS we used bungee bands and it's cured the creakiness. DP had to reinforce the structure at the bottom - replacing what was the bottom horizontal bar of the crib with another piece of wood, and it's been grand

We just take the side off a normal cot and bungee cord the cot to my side of the bed.

We shoved the cot mattress over so it was snug against our main mattress. Then we bought a custom cut high density foam block to fill the gap between the cot mattress and the far cot side....hence no gaps. Our standard cot sheets stretch over both the cot mattress and the high density foam block.

sil always just took one side off, no bungee things but did wedge mattress up

i have a bedside cot and would clamber up and down and put baby in

feet to feet not applicable if baby in sleeping bag

or do feet to feet and baby sleeps upside down in cot so is still up by your head