Sidecarring the cot - anyone done this?

[im_mi]

Hi all!

I am expecting my second baby in october and we plan to do a sidecarring set-up rather than having baby in our bed. mainly because i am a total bed-hog and i NEED my space for us this sounds like the perfect solution! I am really looking forward to it because we didnt co-sleep at all with our first, i didnt know anything about attachment parenting and even though i wanted him in bed with me i was still under the flawed, mainstream impression that it was "inherently dangerous" *rolls eyes*

Anyway. I was just wondering what sidecarring set-up you had/have? we really want to get an arms reach co-sleeper crib but i cant see how we will be able to afford one, as we plan to use the government healthy pregnancy grant to hire a birthing pool for my home birth. A friend of mine just took the side off the cot and tied it to the bed with cable ties, which sounds like a good plan to me, but i am unsure as to whether it will be at the right height (our 2 year old son is still in the cot and we havent had a chance to try it out yet)

Any tips or ideas? what is your co-sleeping set up?

 

[Jetters]

I'm getting this, from Mothercare: https://www.mothercare.com/Motherca...ing=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42764041&mcb=core

£160 (plus a mattress)- bargain!



(And I keep seeing them on gumtree for about £60, so I might get it second hand if I can't afford it all new after buying all these nappies, haha!)

 

[mummypeanut]

ive got an arms reach (but no baby to put in it yet)


the NCT shop sells a different cot with a similar idea https://www.nctshop.co.uk/Babybay-Bedside-Cot/productinfo/4361/ (no cheaper sorry) but i liked how versitile the arms reach was (play pen and trsavel cot too), i think it will save us money eventually because we will use it for other things

cosetto do a cot to go next to the bed but its BIG so you'd need the space. there are some other brands too that ive attached

https://www.preciouslittleone.com/product-information/50/4258/cosatto-close-to-me-bedside-cot/

https://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/products/product_tests/cot/cot_full.asp#brio

 

[im_mi]

ah excellent, thanks jetters! That actually looks better than the arms reach one, and its cheaper! And you say you can find them cheaper on gumtree? ive never ever used gumtree before, perhaps i will have a look

Yeah, we want to get cloth nappies this time too but i think we will wait until LO is born, then we can get a selection to try and see which works out best a friend of mine runs a cloth nappy consultancy so hopefully will be able to get mates rates! Which nappies are you going to use?

 

[mummypeanut]

I'm getting this, from Mothercare: https://www.mothercare.com/Motherca...ing=UTF8&m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&n=42764041&mcb=core

£160 (plus a mattress)- bargain!



(And I keep seeing them on gumtree for about £60, so I might get it second hand if I can't afford it all new after buying all these nappies, haha!)

great find!!!

 

[im_mi]

Ah and thankyou mummypeanut! i really love the look of the arms reach, its just that i doubt we would ever use it as anything other than a place to sleep so for me its just a tad too expensive! Although im still so tempted....

 

[mummypeanut]

Ah and thankyou mummypeanut! i really love the look of the arms reach, its just that i doubt we would ever use it as anything other than a place to sleep so for me its just a tad too expensive! Although im still so tempted....

we have a dog so i need a way to keep babies and dog seperate and all our floors downstairs are slate so really putting the baby on the floor is not an option without serious padding....i think we will use the play pen feature quite a lot when baby gets ,mobile

 

[im_mi]

oh then for you guys its ideal Will definitely do for keeping doggy away from baby! We used to have cats when ours was little and NOTHING keeps them out

 

[NattieLou]

We have an Arm's Reach that we bought in the US and brought back with us. If you know anyone that's travelling there and can bring you one back, it may make it an affordable option for you. We just checked it as a piece of luggage by itself. I think it worked out at about £130 as opposed to >£200 to buy it in the UK. Flippin rip off Britain.

 

[Jetters]

I've been buying the odd couple from people in the Natural Parenting section... i've got (coming) an Itti Bitti (which I like best just cos they're so slim fitting!!), some Little Lambs, a Bambino Mio and a BumGenius Flip.

I've decided to buy size 1 Ittis and Flips mostly while babba is small and then when s/he's older (6 months ish) buy a stack of BtP ones- cos I hear they're too big for newborns really. And Itti's and Flips have good resale value. Which ones are you thinking of???

 

[purple_socks]

I have a drop side crib thing (i think it was from mother care- SIL gave it to us) I think they're great 4 some space but u can easily scoop LO over to u whenever u want (for feeding etc)

if ur looking 4 one thats cheaper have u tried any of these places 4 a second hand one: ebay, nct nearly new sales (u can search 4 a local one on their website), posting an add in the buy&sell bit on here and any other mum and babysites?

altho ours was second hand we did buy a new mattress for it.

 

[Lilyboo]

I also took the side off the cot and tied it to the bed with cable ties and bought a little bit bigger mattress to fill the gap beetwen cot and my bed. You could put there a blanket or maybe you will have no gap. Depends of cot and bed

 

[kirsten1985]

We bought a mamas and papas bedside cot off ebay, cost us about £40 and looks like new. The side just drops down and it came with an extra mattress bit to bridge the gap. I do recommend getting second hand ones then getting a new mattress (we also got ours off ebay, lol but it was new! ). We did the whole thing really cheaply and ended up with a room full of matching mamas and papas furniture that they don't even make anymore, all collected from random parts of the country, lol.