Question about Co-Sleeping with sidecar cots.

[Adelicia]

Hi,

We are expecting our first baby next month and have decided that we would like to co-sleep with a sidecar cot arrangement. I am planning on converting a regular cot in this manner
https://www.drmomma.org/2010/01/turn-your-crib-into-cosleeper.html

I would like to hear other peoples experiences of this.

Also, and I'm probably missing something obvious here, but if hubby and I want to stay up later than babies bedtime, what's the best way to handle this? Firstly, I'm not sure baby will sleep well if we aren't with him/her. Secondly, is there a danger s/he might fall out of the bed as their are no rails to keep him/her in the cot?

Thanks for your advice

 

[Pikkle]

Hello! I started out doing this, and it was really good ... until she learned to roll!! Now she just sleeps in with me. BUT if you feed baby in the cot, maybe they will learn to stay in there?! We have a new bed, and the cot isn't level with it, so we have had to just put the side back on and have her in our bed. I will be more persistant with the co-sleeper next time I think, because however much I love cuddling her, I need some more room!

When we were downstairs, I left her upstairs and kind of made a 'wall' of pillows (not close enough to her to suffocate or anything!!!) and had the monitor on, and would run upstairs at every murmer (paranoid, me?!) and just check on her regularly.

Hope thats some help xxx

 

[Pikkle]

Oh and just to add, whilst she was very tiny, and woke alot for milk, I tended to spend the evenings watching TV or reading, laptop etc in bed with her, until I felt she was ok to be left and was sleeping for longer periods of time xx

 

[Adelicia]

Thanks, that's really helpful It's great to hear others experiences.

I was thinking about getting a 'bed rail' and seeing if I could somehow wedge it in between the bed and the cot. I guess it's going to be one of those things where you have to try it to see!

 

[Jetters]

Hi. K is nearly 7 months and only JUST started rolling around the bed. Until around 6 months they just stay where you place them!

He's always fallen asleep in my arms, I place him in bed and he stays asleep all night. It doesn't make the remotest bit of difference to him if i'm there or not. You just have to follow their cues- most babies even from early on have a very clear sleep pattern- often a 'block' then awake/feed/two smaller ones- so if your baby begins a 5 hour block at say 11pm, that's when they should go in their cot, at the time least likely to wake. If you follow no routine at all for the first month or so and just watch their cues, you'll soon know.

Good luck- co sleeping is lovely, it's been the best thing i've done I think overall. Now he's rolling around all over the place i'm going to put the side of his cot up a little bit so that he can't roll onto my bed when i'm not in there, but you won't need to do anything like this for ages. xx

 

[Rachel_C]

I've been thinking about this recently too. My first LO has a normal cot and we didn't use it as a sidecar cot at all. When we co-sleep, she comes into bed with us. But with the new baby I think I will want a sidecar cot so we don't have to properly co-sleep (I like my space too much!) but can still have easy access for cuddles and BF. I considered converting a normal cot like you said but I have the same issue with naptimes. I wouldn't be happy leaving LO on his/her own from about 4 months without a proper side on the cot, just in case they started rolling when I wasn't there. So unless we can find a way to convert the old cot and still be able to put up the side, I think we're just going to bite the bullet and buy a proper sidecar cot with a side that slides under the cot and can be easily pulled up for naps.

 

[Jetters]

^ my new one does that... it's a mama's and papa's close and cosy x

 

[Adelicia]

I think we're just going to bite the bullet and buy a proper sidecar cot with a side that slides under the cot and can be easily pulled up for naps.

We were given our cot from my MIL, so I think we will see how we get along with co-sleeping, and if we find it works for us go ahead and buy dedicated sidecar. The only problem is our bedroom is very small and I might not be able to put the cot out far enough to fold the side down.

Thanks for your advice ladies. It's really so much better talking to people who have done it

 

[Aunty E]

I've bought a bednest as I don't think we'll want to keep newbaby in our room for more than six months. By the time Mog got to four/five months, we were keeping her awake with our breathing, and she had to go into her own room, so a crib sized sidecar is perfect for us.

 

[bky]

We do this, and just recently for naps (what with crawling) I put a pillow at the end of her cot, but on our bed so she can't easily crawl off the bed before I can hear her. Before that there were no issues with baby escape attempts as she wasn't mobile enough. At night if we stay up she cries when she wakes so we know, it's just daytime naps that she's sneaky.

For awhile we did have a bed rail sandwiched between our mattress and her cot which would have kept her in, but when bringing her into our bed she would just get smooshed into the bed rail (though she didn't mind, I did) and I like the extra space of being fully sidecar without the rail

 

[Sarahwoo]

We did this, and its great! Oliver started having a bedtime at about 12 weeks, going to bed before us. We have a video monitor so now Oliver is more mobile its easy for me to keep an eye on him and his wriggling! I really, really recommend a video monitor. I'm thinking of putting the side on the cot now, as I'm worried that he can crawl so fast I might not get there in time if he wakes up and makes for the edge of the bed! But if I can avoid it I will, I love cosleeping. When I go to bed now he half wakes up and wriggles over for a cuddle, and then wriggles off again when he's had enough