Co-sleeper recs?

[MillieJoan]

Hi,

I'm nearly 22 weeks pregnant with our first, and I'm finding myself stumped by the different options for co-sleepers. Last night, I thought I'd finally found one that sounded good (An "Arm's Reach Mini Co-Sleeper Bassinet," on Amazon.com), but then I realized the sheets that go with it aren't organic cotton, nor is the mattress, something I definitely want.

Does anyone have any recommendations (or any bassinets/other co-sleepers they DIDN'T like, so I stay away from those? )

Thanks!!

 

[Aunty E]

I loved the bed nest but i had an organic mattress made for it, don't think it comes with one. Might now as they've changed the design.

 

[MillieJoan]

Thanks for responding--that does look pretty great, too. I didn't think it would be this difficult to find/choose something!

 

[mistyscott]

we splashed out on the bednest - but so far he's slept with us and refuses to settle in it... Fingers crossed when he's a bit older he'll take to it!

 

[Aunty E]

I fed Teddy to sleep and slid him across into it at first. Then I put him down asleep. Now I feed him, and put him down dozy but not asleep and he's fine. There's always the odd night he ends up with us, but he was generally in the bed nest until his first feed in the morning.

 

[Rebaby]

We've got an arm's reach co-sleeper which we used for T and will be using again for this baby and we love it

We did actually have him in the actual bed with us at times as well though (if that makes sense?) and i imagine it will be the same with this little guy.

 

[xemmax]

Could you buy an organic mattress additionally and use organic cotton flat sheets tucked around the edge? We had the Arm's Reach and it was lovely but honestly, the mattress was terrible any way. Really thin and hard. I've read many similar reviews where people ended up buying a new mattress/wrapping a blanket around it (we would have done the same had Oli spent much time in it - but he prefered our bed the majority of the time).

ETA - We had the Universal, not the mini - Oli outgrew it at about 6 months (when he began to crawl and cruise) so I'm not sure how long the mini would last.

 

[Aunty E]

Teddy is a long baby and I had to move him out the bednest at five months - the Arms Reach is probably a better bet if you want to be able to co-sleep for longer. I would second the suggestion of having a mattress made, it's not all that expensive.

 

[Rebaby]

Just to add, we had the universal too, not the mini. Toby moved out of it at 6 months, it would have lasted a little bit longer maybe but we moved house at that time anyway so didn't bother assembling it in our new place iyswim? He was quite a long/tall baby as well.

 

[Rmar]

Arms reaches are good for moving around a lot as you can pack it up easily but I really love our sleeping arrangement.

You can have a regular cot (if orgnaic untreated materials are priority, go with that) and tie it up to the bed frame with old cut up bedsheets as that wont damage the wood. To level out the mattresses, I bought another cot mattress to go under the good one (I bought a cheap one as it didn't matter to me because it was underneath). You can measure the thickness you need by having the regular mattress and measuring how high up your mattress will be. I tried to find a piece of foam that measured up but another mattress was cheaper.

I'm assuming you aren't comfortable with just having your LO in the bed with you without anything but just in case, you don't really need anything special. For the first 3 months, I just slept with DD in the bed and DH on a mattress on the floor until we worked out a new arrangement. I wanted a bigger bed but the cot was a gift from my mum who thought that a baby should have their own bed. Now she is partially horrified that I can now say that my baby sleeps in her cot and I can still snuggle up to her during the night.