Co-sleeper then what?

[Jacqui]

So I use an arms reach co-sleeper with my son, now 3 months. He goes to bed about 7 every night, or whenever he is tired but usually by 7. We do a dream feed around 10 and he sleeps in his co-sleeper until the first or second night waking. We then bring him in bed with us. I love cuddling with him and we have been co-sleeping at least part of the night since birth. The problem is that i do not sleep very well when he is in bed with us. Twice i have rolled over and put my back to him without realizing he was there and that scared me!
Anyway...original question...what do you arms reach co-sleeper users do when your little one grows out of their sleeper or can pull themselves up and flip out of it? I have a feeling he will be reaching these milestones quickly as he is very strong and already trying to crawl. any suggestions? we are using a mini as our room is not very big.

[nanamar]

My daughter is 7mo old and ocasionally sleeps in co-sleeper, since she is not a fan and rather sleep in my bed. But what I did with my oldest, who will be 3 in march, is that we added a twin mattress between the wall and our bed, making sure to fill the gaps with pillows. This probably wont answer your question though since I'm thinking that arrangement wont work with a baby, only with an older toddler. So, good question?? Hopefully someone else has better advice.

[MommaCrystal]

We used a pack n play.

[dollyanna]

We used it as long as possible, but then moved her into a crib in our room. You could consider side-carring a crib if you have room (we didn't).

[rzberrymom]

Originally Posted by nanamar

we added a twin mattress between the wall and our bed, making sure to fill the gaps with pillows. This probably wont answer your question though since I'm thinking that arrangement wont work with a baby, only with an older toddler.

I used this arrangement for a baby--we got bedframes that weren't too high off the ground, and then taught her how to back off the mattress once she was mobile (remarkably easy to do). You could also put the mattresses right on the floor for a little while.

[crunchy_mommy]

We took apart the bedframe and put the mattress on the floor and his crib mattress beside it (though he usually stays on our mattress anyway!)

[annemoonstar]

Originally Posted by rzberrymom

I used this arrangement for a baby--we got bedframes that weren't too high off the ground, and then taught her how to back off the mattress once she was mobile (remarkably easy to do). You could also put the mattresses right on the floor for a little while.

We have also done this with DS since he was ~6 months. We have a twin size futon mattress between our bed and the wall. Our mattress is on the floor but we've still been teaching him to get off our bed feet first. We also still use the co-sleeper as a barrier at the foot of his futon bed so he can't crawl around the room. We keep diapers, diaper cream, etc in the co-sleeper so we can change him easily in the am and the storage space at the bottom we filled with some of his toys. So in the morning when DH and I are still working on waking up we can put DS back on his futon bed and he just crawls over to the co-sleeper and plays.

This has worked really well for us. He sleeps on the futon for a few hours at the beginning of the night and comes to bed with us at some point. We do have a video monitor so we can watch him if he gets up before we come to bed. Unfortunately the co-sleeper is a loaner and the owner is pregnant so we will have to give up our barrier/storage pretty soon!

[corrie_cat]

I had just this question when DD was 5 months. We put a large bolster between the cosleeper and th main part of the mattress to keep her from wriggling out, before we went to bed (later than her). Then she started crawling out onto the bolster.

We considered a mini crib next to the bed, but ultimately raising and lowering the side to keep her in seemed too difficult. I just don't understand how sidecarred cribs keep babies in the bed, when the parents aren't there. She goes to sleep 3 hours before we do.

So we moved into the other room onto a futon on the floor. This has worked great for us.

[mamacolleen]

We've been thinking about this too since our DD is 6 months and I can see her growing out of the co-sleeper soonish. (although the last 2 weeks she's spent more time in our bed then her co-sleeper given some constant night waking).

We're going back and forth between just getting a king bed, putting our mattress on the floor with a twin or crib mattress beside us or possibly putting a crib in our room. I'm not terribly keen on the idea of putting her in a crib in our room since I love so much the ability to not have to get out of bed at all. I think the mattress on the floor idea will suit our room and finances best... only problem is we use under our bed for so much storage and we live in a little apartment that I'm not sure where we'd put all the stuff!

I like the idea of using the co-sleeper as a bed barrier/play area at the bottom of the bed though.

[Jacqui]

thanks! lots of great ideas!

[koalove]

ive askd this same question here and today we solved our own problem. ds is 6 months tomorrow, and very active. he crawls, climbs and the co sleeper wasnt safe anymore. we took our bed frame out, kept the box spring and mattress, and put a crib mattress on the floor next to us with the wall on the other side. i also put up a guard rail in the foot area of my bed so my blanets dont fall off on him. tonight will beour first night like this! ill et you kow how it goes!