Where does LO nap? Mine fell/pinned herself today...:(

[rumismom]

We co-sleep - don't have a crib... she's 6 months, crawling and pulling up to stand. I have a baby monitor and as soon as I hear her wake I RUN to get her. A few times I've found her just about to climb onto my nightstand.

Today, I heard nothing and suddenly muffled painful screams. Flew up to find an empty bed and still muffled screaming. Then noticed her little jeans poking up - she was head down, head pinned between our bed and nightstand, face smothered into the mattress. She has a bruise/bump on the bridge of her nose from our bed's side rail. If I hadn't heard her... I thought I was going to vomit.

I would be grateful for some suggestions - I'm afraid to put on bed rails because I think she'll just climb up and fall farther!? Do I need to have her nap elsewhere? Will she outgrow this soon? Our DS wasn't this adventurous and we managed just fine.

I am trying to tell myself this a small price to pay for the bliss and security she gets from co-sleeping with us... AND I want to ensure this doesn't happen again. Would love some advice!

[Sk8ermaiden]

I have the EXACT same problem! Other co-sleepers tell me to teach her how to get off the bed correctly, but I think their kids must have become mobile at a much later age. She is not really capable of understanding that yet.

I just peek in on her every 5 seconds. I don't get any peace when she naps. I have started trying to rock her to sleep and put her down in the crib and only bring her in bed if I'm in there. Sometimes I can manage it - sometimes she still ends up in bed.

[baloo888]

I was always fearful of this happening when our LO was younger (she's now 13 mos). We tried putting pillows all around her, sidecarring a crib but the only thing that put my mind at ease was completely removing the bed frame and box springs and placing the mattress directly on the floor. At first it was a little awkward getting in and out of bed but the peace of mind is totally worth it.

[treegardner]

DS napped in a PNP or his stroller.

[starling&diesel]

I either hang out with DD when she naps, or if I know I'm not going to, then I nurse her down in her room, where we have a double mattress on the floor. I enjoy hanging out while she naps though ... I read, catch up on MDC, or have a cup of tea and do absolutely nothing.

[starling&diesel]

Oh, and I wanted to add a for you. That must've been very scary finding DD like that.

[Kailey's mom]

When dd started crawling, we put the bed on the floor.. that ended the problem

[LiLStar]

That sounds so terrifying!! Glad you found her quickly and she was okay

another vote for bed on the floor. dd fell off once around 6 months and fractured her skull. i was RIGHT THERE in the room too. i begged dh to take the bed down but he refused. So for a couple weeks i literally built a fort around her after she fell asleep of NOISY obstacles. a bag of bells from the craft store (unopened so they wouldnt be choking hazrds!) and any toy that had bels or any non electronic noisemaker. she couldn't move without setting off my "alarms"..lol.. man it was ridiculous, and so, SO stressful. I finally convinced him. You know whats sad? The final thing to convince him was that the frame squeaked a little so it was hard to sneak away off the bed after nursing to sleep without waking her.

anyway, we've been mattress on the floor sleepers for nearly 2.5 years and LOVE it. i hate sleeping at hotels or someone else's house because i always have to worry about falls. sell the frame, or stick it in the garage for when you're done cosleeping

[mamandedeux]

I invested in a monitor with a video camera when DS2 was born. Although he mostly naps on me in a carrier, I usually have to leave him for about 1 hour at night to tend to DS1 before he's ready for bed too. I carry the wireless receiver with me and can have a visual of him at all times. Very reassuring!

[mum21andtwins]

a large quilt folded large enough for her to sleep o would do the trick.
We had a very low bed and no nightstands so I never really had a fear of him falling out. same with the twins. Once they got mobile tough I spend a few days playing on the bed so they would know what to do

[SeekingJoy]

Between 5-11 months (when DD figured out how to safely get off our bed) was a bit tricky. I did have a crib she would sometimes nap in. Sometimes she napped in a carrier. Sometimes a pallet on the floor. Sometimes a pack and play. Good luck! I also never felt safe leaving her to nap alone when I was not in bed with her.

[seaheroine]

How scary, mama!

Another vote for a PnP. DD1 has always napped in hers...now she climbs in it herself when she wants to rest. We went ahead and just got a second for DD2...they're both in the living room and both girls will sleep through any noise, etc. I'm just too worried to have them napping in another room. Both co-sleep with us at night.

I hope you find a solution that gives you some peace of mind!

[Beauchamp]

Originally Posted by Sk8ermaiden

I have the EXACT same problem! Other co-sleepers tell me to teach her how to get off the bed correctly, but I think their kids must have become mobile at a much later age. She is not really capable of understanding that yet.

This exactly. Mine will go head first off the bed, which is why I haven't done bed rails. We did get rid of our bed frame, but kept our box spring, which is 5 inches, and our mattress is 7 or 9 inches. but I still worry, because even if she can get onto the floor safely, she can hurt herself on other things...like dresser knobs, can you believe this?!? I never thought babyproofing would include removing our dresser knobs. So soon we will have no furniture in our room at all...or string handles on our lower drawers. Unless she bangs her head on the wood, then I'd just have piles of clothes laying around.... Sorry, we've been up since 4 and I got three broken hours of sleep last night.

Anyway, she naps surrounded by pillows. I don't think DH would like me to invest $$$ in a video monitor, although that is an excellent idea. I think I might spend some money to get a very cushy wool mattress pad to make her crib ultra cozy (more like our bed) and UN-sidecar the crib. I hate to revert back to the crib after sidecar/cosleep, but I need her to be safe, and I can't sit in there when she naps because she can smell the milk or something and even typing on MDC wakes her up. :yawning

So, I guess I vote for the video monitor, staying with her throughout the nap, or a 4-sided crib. (Although mine can still bang her head on the crib and get hurt...we are headed for a padded room and helmets, I tell you...)

p.s. I am so sleep deprived, so that is my disclaimer on if this post sounds like a complete loon wrote it.

ETA: I'm so sorry you had a scare like that with your LO.

[jazzharmony]

We moved the mattress to the floor when our first was 5mo.

[reezley]

VIDEO MONITOR. Ours has given me peace of mind through 5 years now (2 kids). My kids have always slept on a bed/mattress, not a crib. Video monitors are expensive (~$100) but well worth it in my opinion!

Edited to add: Oh,just saw your response about not wanting to spend the money for a video monitor. I can understand that... we're on a tight budget ourselves. BUT - I still vote for it! I love it THAT much. I hated getting nervous and running in with every shuffling noise on an audio monitor.

[Sk8ermaiden]

We don't have a monitor and can't afford one, and even if we could, I would have to stare at it the entire nap for moment of wake up? I mean, my kid can sprint. Pallet on the floor might work - she doesn't go to sleep easy because it's "different" but maybe I can get her used to it. Our mattress is alreay on the floor, but it's still 2 feet high and doesn't keep her from trying to crawl onto th night stands.

Beauchamp! You crack me up! If I took out everything she bangs her head on, we wouldn't have anything left in our house!

[mouso]

Hugs, Mama. Scary!

My DD napped in her swing forever (but she's always been an awful sleeper, you should have seen her arms & legs hanging over the edge of it like an octopus ) and then we put the bed on the floor.
We have a tiny house and lost storage space but it was well worth the piece of mind. I'm sure we'll go back to floor sleeping when DS is older.

[esteg0]

We moved our bed to the floor around that time and have a really high pillow top mattress too. So, I put a thin twin mattress on the floor of his room and that's where he naps. It works perfectly and he learned how to climb off safely pretty quickly. We also made sure to take all dangerous items out of his room so if he woke and we can't hear him he can't get hurt if he decides to play.

[Tofu the Geek]

Both of my kids slept on the floor in the living room when they napped. I was close by when they woke up and no worries of falling or me not hearing them since I was always in the same room or the kitchen (with a view of the living room).

[shimsheree]

I just wanted you to know that you're not alone- I had a scare this last week too. DD is 9 months old and naps on our bed. She will only nurse lying down and that's how she falls asleep, either nursing or cuddled up to me. Then when she's asleep I sneak off and listen carefully for any sound on the monitor.

She's mobile now so DH and I have been trying to decide what to do. This last week I didn't hear her make any sounds and then all of the sudden I heard awful screaming! I ran in, didn't see her on the bed, didn't see her on the floor on my side of the bed, ran to DH's side and didn't see her on the floor there either! Then realized she fell off the end of the bed onto the laundry basket and she was wailing! I felt like the most terrible parent in the world.

So I feel your pain. We still aren't sure what we're going to do, but for now I make up a little bed on the floor, just a blanket and some pillows around her, and I nurse her lying down and then she sleeps on the floor. For night time I've been doing that, but when I go to bed I bring her into bed with me.

I don't really have any suggestions for you since I'm trying to figure it out too, but don't feel bad. We're in the same boat.