Co-sleeping Tips

When my son was young I got one of these:
http://www.snugtuckpillow.com/how_it_works.htm

It is wonderful. No hard metal rail, but also the assurance that the baby will not fall off the bed. When he nursed on one side I kept him in the middle of the bed between me and my hubby, the other side, I had the snugtuck pillow. Now I use it on his "big boy bed" instead of a rail. He can climb over it, but if he rolls towards it while sleeping, it keeps him on the bed. I also had a flat pillow that he slept on and we always scooched down further in the bed so that the covers could cover us, but not so much him. Hope this helps!

Hi, we have co-slept since day 1.
When my son was a newborn, we used to put him on a large pillow and keep his head at our head level, so when our blankets came to our shoulder, that would be only the lower part of his body. He wasn't moving in his sleep at that age, so it worked out.
Around 10 weeks, I removed the pillow, but still put him at my head level.
Now I cover him with the same blanket as mine and he just pushes it away :) (he's 11 m.o.)

Another suggestion I've read about is to place the baby on top of your comforter/blanket and then cover yourself.

As for bedrails, I think any of those from the retailer Target or walmart should be fine. We don't use one yet, pad with pillows instead.

You could also get a co-sleeper which has small barriers.

D.:

as for blankets,, just blanket as you would normally, her head will be out as will yours. she will not allow herself to be sufficated/ if you are concerned you could tuck the blacket under her.

P., IBCLC, RLC
Pres. Lactation Support Group, Inc
800 LACTATE

We co-sleep with our little guy- he's now 11 months. We side-carred a crib to our bed- raised the crib mattress so that it is level with our bed. It has a crib sheet on it and is flush against the bed. I got inspired by this site: http://www.littlewatkins.com/info-sidecar-crib.html
or Mothering.com and they have recommendations there about making sure the crack between bed & crib is secure.

I usually try to have baby on the side of the bed that the crib is. He pretty much NEVER is IN the crib part, but it is extra space in case he rolls, etc. My feet or legs end up in it more than anything!!

As for blankets, it might help to have separate blankets so that baby has his/her own and you have your own.

We have co-slept with both of our children ages 3 and almost 2. With both kids we used fleece or cotton Halo Sleep Sacks (amazon sells them but they're available lots of places now). We slept with a comforter on the bed but I just tried to make sure that it didn't cover either of their heads. As long as they were on their backs I didn't worry so much about suffocation from the comforter. There is also a portable co-sleeper or snuggle nest available that you could place between your pillows if you really don't want the baby to be near any covers. I had one of those too but found that I never used it as most times I would fall back to sleep while the baby was eating and never remember to put him back in it.
I prefer the bed rails that have a strap running from their base to a disc wedged on the opposite side of the bed as there is little chance the baby will slip down between the rail and the mattress with these. I found mine on eBay for around $35.
With our first we slept with her in the middle so we didn't have a rail. When our son came along we kept the spot open in the middle in case she wanted to get in bed with us in the middle of the night and I put a rail along my side so he could sleep between me and the rail on the bed.

my husband and I and our son each has our own blankets. sometimes my son and I share the same blanket and vice versa.

I have slept with all four of mine. I like to be snuggled in blankets so I start out high in the bed and once baby is done nursing I unlatch and scoot down an inch or two. So are heads are even or hers a little higher. Also we all have our own blankets lol I share with the baby most nights but do have one sitting there to drap over her. After #3 was born we moved and we ended up putting out mattress on the floor, she was a roller and it made me nervous. They all slept in between us so we never got a rail. If I had to switch sides in the middle of the night dh and I just changed places, once the huge let downs stopped I stopped switching sides, now I only switch sides when she is up and down a lot. Our bed is also against the wall so now I don't have to wake hubby to switch but still do most times because I hate feeling trapped in between the both of them. Even though our bed is on the floor so it's flush against the wall I still would put a pillow next to her when she was younger to keep her away from the crack. She is 14 months and I stopped that around one with both of the younger ones. When they were little and nursed alot more I would sleep in a sweatshirt so I didn't need as much blanket on the top half.

I think it is wonderful how so many mothers responded with support of cosleeping. It is the most superb experience and there is nothing as wonderful in mothering as being able to sleep and cuddle up with your child at night. My husband loves it too so just make sure you two are on the same page on the issue but otherwise its AMAZING. Way to go on your decision! As for my own experience, I have had her sleep with us until about two months ago - 13 months old - and now I actually got a queen size bed for me and her while my husband is next to us in a twin. It works out nicely cause he comes to curl up with us each night and then when he feels like having his own space, he goes into his bed on the other side of her. Our beds are flushed with eachother so its nice cause she is in between us and won't go any where. For the past few months she has been sleeping with a pillow like us and she sleeps better this way than without one. She has a small one I knit for her but the regular pillow is what she prefers. She is fine with my blankets and when she is too hot or cold she lets me know. Recently she has started to sleep through the night pretty much but I am very thankful I do not have her in a crib cause I would have been a zombe by now! Good luck and enjoy every second of it!

Hi D.!

I am speaking from personal experience. I don't think you need a bed rail at all. My son slept between us and he never rolled or crawled over us. As far as the blanket thing goes put your little one in a sleeper sack or a Halo sack. What we did to make sure blankets didn't go over his head was to make sure he slept on top of the blankets--which is why we put him in a long sleeved sleeper sack, or we made sure our heads were even with our heads. I hope this helps!!!

---D.

I have co-slept with both of my daughters. In our situation, my husband decided to sleep on another matress in our room but not in bed with us because he felt nervous.

So, as I was the only one in bed with them, we used two Evenflo bedrails and they have been great. This is the fourth year I have used them and they're going strong going on five years.

I always tucked my girls in using my blankets. With a new baby you're up and down all night nursing anyway so I figured I had a good eye on them. Even though my youngest is nearly 2 I still don't fully sleep and peek at her every once in awhile. I mostly have to cover her at night as she kicks the blankets off all the time. I keep my pillow away from her (adjust it even when I'm half awake to keep it far enough away from her) and we're good.

Good luck with co-sleeping. It's great for you and for your little one.

Hi! Our son has been in our family bed since birth, so we have lots of experience with co-sleeping. We never did use a bed rail, because as an infant my son would only sleep laying on my chest. As far as the winter months, we always bundled our little one in a nice, warm blanket sleeper, and I would bundle myself up with socks and sweats. As he got older, however, we graduated to very light, thin sheets and blankets, and now at 3, he sleeps under a comforter with us.

Good luck!

I used a bedrail because my daughter slept on the "outside" edge of the bed, but it never became a real issue that she would roll off because I woke up each time she moved!
The product the other mom suggested sounds good to me as far as keeping the blanket off of the head- pull it up to the top of the bed and baby can have her own blanket.

My kudos to you for sleeping with your baby! It worked wonderfully for me, as I quickly discovered my daughter would not sleep AT ALL apart from me- not even in a co-sleeper attachment bed. It is a bonding experience that really does allow you and your baby to sleep better!

-Amanda

HI D.,
I too like many mom's co-sleep/slept with my daughters. With my 2.8 year old I slept with her in my arms on the coach until I went back to work. I got smarter with my second and bought the snuggle nest. It sits in your bed to prevent rolling over and has an incline which helps a lot with reflux, this however is expensive ($69-$79) and you�re limited to about 4-5 months depending on how big your child is. My youngest is almost 5 months and although I would prefer her to be in her own room and bed, at this point with her apnea it is not an option. We use the mini-cosleeper (about $129) which we borrowed for my wonderful sister. It is great, but again you�re limited to the baby sitting up and crawling and up until they weigh 24 pounds. Our next purchase we hope to make soon is the sleigh bed co-sleeper. This one is the most expensive option ($300), but they can be in it for a while with no weight limit and it converts into a bench for later use. Unfortunately it has been on back order for months. It will certainly put you at easy and she'll still be in bed with you. Here is a link for more information. Good luck. http://www.armsreach.com/sleigh_cosleeper.php

Hi D.! Congratulations on your daughter!! My husband and I used this thing that you put in the middle of the bed for the baby to sleep in. It worked wonders. I've attached the link. We got it at Target and it is made by First Years and called "close and secure sleeper".

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/ref=br_1_1/602-###-#...

Hope it helps!!

Take Care
S.

This is tough...my daughter co-slept for almost a year and still ends up in our bed about once a week. While I was scared every night, I found that no matter how tired I was, I was always protecting her. I would always have an arm around her or on her. I probably never slept well, but I loved having her with me. It might depend on how heavily you sleep. I was able to not sleep heavily with her next to me. Of course, I was sleep deprived, but it was worth it. I miss her being there now...she is 2 1/2 and likes her own bed! But like I said at least once a week, she ends up with us around 3 am. Good luck

hi
when my son slept with us we used his blankets to cover him and kept our blankets for us. The rail we did not use one. he didn't roll. when he got older he slept in the middle.