Co-sleeping once rolling/crawling

Anna - posted on 09/06/2009

We swapped our bed for a divan. It is close to the floor so Tasman can just crawl off. As soon as he started crawling, he started falling out of bed. It was awful! But the divan is great and more comfortable for co-sleeping cause we don't roll into each other with the harder mattress.

KRISTINA - posted on 09/03/2009

Hi, I coslept with my first daughter, Marley, until she was 15 months and then moved her to a queen size bed in her own room, never used her crib. When she slept with my husband and I in our king bed it was on a regualr frame, but once she began really rolling and crawling, we put the mattress and boxspring on the floor with the toddler guardrails on both sides and she never got out on her own, she to this day won't leave her bed once waking, unless she is just playing, but if she just wakes she talks and waits for me to come get her. What we did too, to get her to go into her own bed, was to get her queen bed in her own room and I would sleep with her for naps and nights for a few months just like when she was in my bed, but in her own room and bed. After a while I would leave once she was asleep, when she woke I would just go to bed with her, no stress on anyone. But as she got a little older (about 13 months), she began sleeping longer and longer without waking and I was actually just going to bed with her at night because I was tired haha. But by 15 or 16 months (right when I had my now 7 month old daughter Olivia) she would sleep until about 5 am and my husband would just go in and lay with her. It just got better....now she is 28 months and sleeps all night (7:30pm-7am) or later. My 7 month old is also in cosleeping and we are in the process of getting her queen size in her room and just tossing the stupid crib once and for all, we obviously will never use the thing lol. She is about to crawl any day and I hope she is like her sister and eases into the new room.....hope all of this helps...just make it safe..."just in case" you never know what they are thinking! ;)

Jessica - posted on 08/25/2009

I have a very similar situation - my husband is gone two weeks a month so it throws off our whole routine! Anyway, we have a 10 month old and have been using a guard rail for the past 8 months or so. I put a body pillow between my daughter and the guard rail, but recently I've begun to worry that she'll get up in the middle of the night and try and jump off the bed! Maybe I'm just being paranoid. When she wakes up, though, she's very curious about what's on the other side of the guardrail. I wake up with almost every move she makes, but I'm still so nervous about it. I've been trying to get her to sleep in her pack-and-play next to the bed but she's not having it. I like the floor idea - I hadn't heard that one before. I think my husband will flip if I try and move for that though... he wants her in her own room (but of course if we really tried putting her in her crib and she started crying, he'd be telling me to go get her after about a minute!).

Kristy - posted on 08/24/2009

I am still sleeping with my two and 1/2 yr old and I had the same fear. What you could do is get one of those bed rails that are for the twin bed and put in on the side of the bed that I was afraid that the baby would fall out and this was a big help. I did not worry that she would get stuck between the bed and the wall or fall off the bed. they are inexpencive and I bet you can get one from your local freecycle group. I hope this helps. Kristy

Brenda - posted on 08/21/2009

Right now I have the cosleeper beside the bed (and I also have a bedrail I can use). Mine isn't crawling or rolling out yet, but he will at one day. Just make sure there aren't any cracks between the rail and your bed if you use one, stuff them with blankets. attachmentparenting.org has a great sleep section with good guidelines on babyproofing the bed.

Kylie - posted on 08/20/2009

Thanks everyone, we want to keep cosleeping so am going to do the mattress on the floor :-)

Chantelle - posted on 08/05/2009

My boy has managed to roll off the bed once, because we haven't picked up guard rails for the bed. He had woken up at night, and we wanted him to go back to sleep on his own so we tried leaving him in the dark to be undisturbed. It was terrifying to hear the thump as he hit the ground, but he was fine. I had a pillow there, so he hit the pillow then rolled off, it could definitely have been worse. We haven't done that since. Most of the time though, he makes some sort of noise when he first wakes up, and then either lays there waiting, or depending on how he was sleeping, he will roll onto his stomache and prop himself up. I just make sure he naps in the centre of the bed when I am not there, sometimes I'll even put him crosswise, so that he has lots of room to roll if he chose. When I'm in there with him, I have an arm around him if he is too near the edge of the bed, or if my husband is in a deep and rolling sleep.

The only time he sleeps without nursing to sleep is in the car, stroller or swing. And even then he sometimes wants to suck for a second for comfort as I transfer him to the bed. I know that if I am ever going to let extended family have him for any length of time, I will have to find some solution, but I am so attached to sleeping with my baby boy that I haven't really made much progress. I think cry it out is horrible. As does my husband, but he does want his wife back. He's not pushing it yet though. So far the crib which someone bought for us, is for playing in, and the occassional nap, but no nights yet.

Dana - posted on 08/04/2009

During the day for naps and at night before I go to bed, I put my son in his crib that I keep right next to the bed. He won't go to sleep in it by himself but, I nurse him to sleep and then lay him in it. I didn't use to do this until about a month or so ago and I was always on edge and running into the room to make sure he wasn't waking up and crawling off the bed. It's so much better now.

Geralyn - posted on 08/04/2009

Lisa, that is too cute that she'll crawl out to see you. No crying baby in your house - she knows how to find you! Awwww...

Minnie - posted on 08/02/2009

We folded a blanket and put it in the corner of our bedroom. I lie there with my nine month old to nurse her to sleep for naps (she also takes some naps in the mei tai). It's really cute because she has figured out how to open the door and comes crawling out to see me after she gets up from her nap.



At night she sleeps in bed with me. If you're concerned about her in bed during the night, first years has a guard rail you can use that will fit your king.

Lucienne - posted on 08/02/2009

Hi Kylie



So, my son is at the stage your worried about. I have been very carefully teaching (since day one basically) him not to go near the edge of the bed, during naps in the daytime he wakes up these days he gives a loud yell/cry and waits for me to come into the room (A baby monitor would be perfect for thism when you hear baby stirring pop in and check) at night,i keep pillows along the edge of the bed and pillows on the floor just incase....

(i cant put the mattress on the floor because its so humid here mould grows... its so GROSS)



hope your enjoying your little baby girl!!! well done for co-sleeping!

Geralyn - posted on 08/01/2009

Kylie, the book that I read was "Sleeping With Your Baby" by James McKenna, Ph.D. It talks about the benefits of co-sleeping and how to do it safely. Good luck!

Geralyn - posted on 08/01/2009

Kylie, I used pillows even after he was crawling because I would wake up. Last month, we put our mattress on the floor, and I actually wish we had done it from the beginning. As soon as he started moving, we taught him to wiggle off the bed feet first (when it was not on the floor) with more assistance in the beginning and then he could do it pretty well. Now that the mattress is on the floor, I have no concerns. Even if he were to roll off the bed, there is such a small distance to fall and land. I definitely recommend the mattress on the floor pulled away from the wall.





You would not want to use the wall as a support, because there are cautions about the baby being wedged between the wall and the bed. There are definitely books out there on safe co-sleeping.

Ana - posted on 08/01/2009

My little one is 13 months and he is only just getting out of bed on his own but i always seem to wake up.

Most people advise to put your mattress on the floor. Most literature i have read on bed sharing has suggested this and most of my bed sharing friends do it. I have heard of guards you can buy to put around the edge but i've never seen any and don't know anyone who uses them.

Hope that helps. Good luck Kylie!