Our bedroom is very small, with barely enough room to fit a mini convertible Arms Reach Co-sleeper between my side of the bed and the wall. This arrangement is working very well for us--DS doesn't mind sleeping in his own space (as much as I like cuddling with him, I figure this isn't something I want to get him out of the habit of if possible), but DH and I are able to ease our new parent paranoia with just a glance over at him and I'm able to soothe him back to sleep by reaching out to him.
The problem is that I don't know what to do once he outgrows the co-sleeper. I'm planning to lower the co-sleeper down to the playard level when he passes the developmental cutoff for using it as a co-sleeper (this is safe if I ensure that nothing falls in?), but even then he'll get too long for it eventually. DH says we could've fit the full size co-sleeper in if we'd taken the doors off of our wardrobes and shoved his side of the bed all the way against him, but there definitely isn't room to side car a crib, which is what I'd like to do if I could.
We have a decent tax return coming, and DH is willing to use some of it to buy a new mattress I'd be comfortable co-sleeping on, but I don't really know what to look for in a mattress. Our current one is a squishy old memory foam one that doesn't seem safe for co-sleeping to me. Also, we can only fit a queen-size bed in our room, and it seems like people feel too crowded to co-sleep in one.
So what would you do? I'd like to avoid putting him in his own room until we're comfortable with the idea, which is definitely not going to happen this year. Is there something out there that would be narrow enough to side car when he gets too tall for the mini co-sleeper? Would you go ahead and switch to co-sleeping, and if so, what kind of mattress would you look at, and how would you make things safe for the little guy? Are bed rails the best answer for that? I didn't read up on co-sleeping before he was born, so I really don't know much about the specifics.
The problem is that I don't know what to do once he outgrows the co-sleeper. I'm planning to lower the co-sleeper down to the playard level when he passes the developmental cutoff for using it as a co-sleeper (this is safe if I ensure that nothing falls in?), but even then he'll get too long for it eventually. DH says we could've fit the full size co-sleeper in if we'd taken the doors off of our wardrobes and shoved his side of the bed all the way against him, but there definitely isn't room to side car a crib, which is what I'd like to do if I could.
We have a decent tax return coming, and DH is willing to use some of it to buy a new mattress I'd be comfortable co-sleeping on, but I don't really know what to look for in a mattress. Our current one is a squishy old memory foam one that doesn't seem safe for co-sleeping to me. Also, we can only fit a queen-size bed in our room, and it seems like people feel too crowded to co-sleep in one.
So what would you do? I'd like to avoid putting him in his own room until we're comfortable with the idea, which is definitely not going to happen this year. Is there something out there that would be narrow enough to side car when he gets too tall for the mini co-sleeper? Would you go ahead and switch to co-sleeping, and if so, what kind of mattress would you look at, and how would you make things safe for the little guy? Are bed rails the best answer for that? I didn't read up on co-sleeping before he was born, so I really don't know much about the specifics.
