this is for you if you co-sleep

Ima2

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 7:14 pm

if you co sleep with your baby, what do you do when you wake up in the morning and your baby is still sleeping in your bed? How do you make sure they don't roll off? My baby is 5.5 months old and we co sleep.I wake up before her usually and leave her sleeping in my bed. This morning she rolled off the bed (she was left in the middle of the bed)!!! I'm so scared to leave her again, but what do I do? I should wake her up? barricading the sides won't help much I don't think b/c she can roll over our pillows. Please advise!!!

boysrus

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 7:24 pm

block her in with furniture? One side of the bed next to a wall? Other side with one of those safety bar/barriers?

rachel6543

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 7:35 pm

You can get bed rails for the sides of the bed.

I co-slept with my son when he was a baby. If I left the bed and wasn't in the room, then I usually transitioned him to his pack n play which was next to my bed, or moved him to his crib in the other room. Otherwise it's not safe to leave them unattended, esp when they can roll and move around at that age.

Last edited by rachel6543 on Mon, Sep 19 2016, 10:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

mommy3b2c

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 7:36 pm

I just use a pillow, but if she can roll over the pillow, use a safety bar

amother

Emerald

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 8:07 pm

I bought a cosleeper. It's like a crib with one side missing and you move it right next to your bed.

MiracleMama

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 9:36 pm

I had one side of the bed against a wall and the other side I'd block with chairs.

melalyse

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 9:39 pm

I always wondered how people who cosleep put their baby to sleep @ night.

baschabad

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 10:01 pm

My mattress is on the floor! Even if baby rolls off, it's just a little "floop" onto the rug and they usually keep sleeping!

baschabad

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 10:03 pm

melalyse wrote:

I always wondered how people who cosleep put their baby to sleep @ night.

My babies are nursed to sleep or patted, rocked etc and then put down on the bed. Then I come join them later when I'm ready to sleep! The worst is when they moved around from where you put them and you have twist your body around them to find a place to lay down!

justmarried

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 10:07 pm

Bed rails - it looks weird but my bed is not near a wall so I needed it. My kids were always out by 8 months, I'm not sure til what age it would help.

I never had the problem of the baby waking up after me. They always woke up when I got out of bed! Which is why they didn't stay there that long.

Miri1

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 10:22 pm

Please don't put your bed against the wall.

Even a small gap can be an entrapment danger ch"v. Not sure about the bed rails these days, but you want to check that too, I don't think they are designed for tiny little arms legs and heads.

A mattress on the floor is the safest (btdt)

Once the baby is rolling and crawling you really can't control him with a bed rail or anything else anyway. While you sleep he can be crawling all over.

amother

Pewter

Mon, Sep 19 2016, 11:05 pm

Another vote for mattress on the floor. I keep it there for a few months, until baby is out of my bed.

(I do pillow barricades at first, but you said your baby outgrew those already.)

chani8

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 12:30 am

Put her in a crib! Co-sleeping is overrated. Wink

(I did it, fully, with my 5th child until age 3, what a mistake. My other babies were in cribs in my room.)

In my opinion, it's for newborns, when you aren't sleeping much anyway. But, by 5 months, you need your sleep. As does your baby.

For sure, keep your baby in bed with you to cuddle and nurse there and nap together.But for deep bedtime sleep, you need to know that baby is safe. She's getting active and needs a safe place!

amother

Pewter

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 12:46 am

If I cosleep, I sleep better. My babies wake up in the middle of the night to nurse until 11-12 months, and I don't like getting out of my bed in the middle of my sleep to deal with it! Like this, I can roll over, get baby latched on, and go back to sleep.

If I was bottle feeding, it wouldn't help much though.

amother

Denim

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 12:46 am

Isn't it dangerous to have the baby in your bed, because you can chas vshalom roll onto him and suffocate him?

rachel6543

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 12:47 am

I co-slept out of necessity. For me, it was the only way I could sleep & function when my baby was little! My baby sleep better with me, it was easier to nurse because I didn't have to get out of bed.

However, by 12 months I was ready to stop co-sleeping. But for complicated reasons, I waited until my son was 16-17 months old to move him into a crib and his own room.

amother

Pewter

Tue, Sep 20 2016, 1:48 am

amother wrote:

Isn't it dangerous to have the baby in your bed, because you can chas vshalom roll onto him and suffocate him?

If you roll off your bed and onto the floor, yes, this is a serious concern. If you take medication/drugs that make you sleepy, this is also a concern.

Otherwise, you have enough "presence" not to roll onto your baby, even in your sleep.