I feel like bedsharing is getting dangerous

[minties]

I happily bedshared with my others, who greatly relied on being swaddled to sleep so never rolled about in bed as infants. Emma has never been swaddled though, so she's free to wiggle about etc.

She isn't rolling yet, but she can turn around in bed and propel herself backwards. A few times recently I've woken and she's been at a right angle to me with her head jammed against the back of my head and her hands tangled in my hair.

I'm worried that something bad is goin to happen, but she's still little and the idea of her being off in the other side of the room in a cot feels wrong. Plus, we don't have a cot anyway, we for rid of every single baby item when Sophie was 3.

I'm not ready for my baby to not be right next to me, so I was thinking to buy a cot and have it pressed against the bed with one side removed. Would this be ok or with her wriggling is there something I'm missing here that could be dangerous? I'm handy with power tools so could screw the cot against my bed base.

 

[redneckhippy]

In the states at least I've seen a cot that is just what you described sold at the store. It has a little drop down side and attaches the bed. A friend of mind used it. There are also little cots that go in the bed but given baby her own space.

 

[minties]

I've seen those here also, but they are stupendously expensive and can't be used for terribly long. I would love something like that though!

 

[Spudtastic]

It sounds like your little one is a wriggler. I think putting the cot next to your bed with the side down is a great idea.
I currently have the cot against the wall and the bed against the cot (still with It's side on). It gives me extra room in case my little one rolls as I.know she can't roll out that side. (And I don't need other barriers)
However she's not a big mover when asleep so I've been really happy to have her in my bed still at 10 months.

 

[confused87com]

I took the side off a cot and put it next to the bed but I had to roll up blankets because they never are the exact same height and there was a small gap between bed frame mattress and cot. ...little monkey slept in my bed anyway😂

 

[MindUtopia]

We had a sidecar cot (basically an IKEA one with the side removed and then adjusted to be flush with the height of our mattress). That worked great. We did mostly bedshare, but especially when she was little, it was nice to have that extra space when I wasn't comfortable with her being too close to my pillow. They do tend to go through this weird phase when they move around a lot and I know mine ended up sort of perpendicular with the top of her head around my torso lots of times, but she was a bit older, maybe closer to 12-18 months at that point so I wasn't too concerned as I knew she could get out of the way of the pillow and blankets by that age.

Definitely recommend the sidecar cot. It worked well for us when we needed some extra space and it was much cheaper than buying one of those co-sleepers that are super expensive and don't really fit a baby bigger than a few months old.

 

[SarahBear]

I'd say just make sure there are no gaps and it's solidly attached to the bed so gaps can't develop. An easier solution would be to just put your mattress directly on the ground.

 

[Snufflepop]

My little boy was great for the first 6 months and didn't really move much, I could boob him to sleep and then go downstairs for dinner and he would still be in the same position when I can back. Now he is 11 months and rolls all over the place. I second a mattress on the floor or a sidecar cot. Both options mean you have more space and don't need to worry about the wiggling as she gets more mobile.

 

[minties]

I would have the mattress on the ground if I could, there's no room to store the bed base though. I'm not too concerned she's going to fall off, more worried about her moving so much and my body perhaps hurting hers as she is in an unexpected position.

She's rolling now so getting a bit more mobile.

I'm getting a cot to side-car, in the mean time she's on a small foam mattress on the floor where I can easily get to her to nurse.

 

[broodymrs]

Look up bednests. They're co sleepers (so attach to your bed) that you hire for £69

 

[broodymrs]

https://www.bednest.com/

Sorry £89 actually

 

[LoveCakes]

I have a side sleeper (snuzpod) and it's great. My lo was rolling at 4 months and can crawl across a room now at 6 months. The open side can be zipped up too for when I need to go to the toilet etc... in the night

Plus my toddler sometimes ends up in our bed and there's just no room for 4 of us.

 

[Rhea Santiago]

I have a 4 months old baby and I'm also worried about bedsharing since there are many cases already that the baby was strangled to death or that the elder brother had accidentally rolled towards the babys head or even a single pillow or blanket may suffocate the baby. I already knew of a cot that will just simply be attached on one side of a bed and it seems to be a great idea but its kind of expensive.