cosleeping and early bedtimes

[Stonybrook]

My husband and I co-sleep with our 7-month old and love it. However, he generally goes to bed around 7-7:30 pm. I usually nurse or rock him to sleep, but don't want to have to turn in for the night that early. This was not a problem before, as we could keep tabs on him with the monitor, but now that he is trying to crawl, he sometimes wakes (doesn't cry or make noise) and tries to come find us. When this happened last week, the edge of the bedrail barely caught him from sliding off the foot of the bed. He is too young to wander the house safely.

We don't have a crib now, but our neighbors offered to loan us theirs so that he has a safe place to sleep when we aren't in the bed. He used to use the pack and play bassinet for this purpose, but has outgrown it. Another option would be to sleep in his PeaPod tent during the early evening (same idea). We tried to give him a later bedtime to match ours, but he was exhausted.

Any ideas of how to get him to sleep in a crib part-time? We will still co-sleep once we go to bed.

Thank you for your advice!

[Monkeygrrl]

What if you just folded a blanket on the floor and put him on the floor until you were ready to go to bed? Or just get a crib mattress to put on the floor, and slide under the bed when you aren't using it?

And if you are rocking him and putting him to sleep that way, then laying him down, it shouldn't be that much different to lay him down in a crib. Could you use the pack and play without the bassinet part? Just laying him down in the bottom of it?

peace...

[ThankfulMama]

I started putting DD down for naps in her crib for the same reason. I didn't feel safe with her alone in the bed during nap time. I started with the expectation that she might wake often (and she did at first) and then just worked on it from there. I think I started one nap a day in the crib (if it wasn't a long one, we coslept for the second nap). She eventually started taking decent naps in the crib and so I began to use it for night time--I put her down in the crib at 7 and then bring her to bed when we are ready to go to sleep.

My DH is not keen on the mattress on the floor idea so this was my solution.

HTH!

[JorgieGirl]

Can you take your bed off the frame? You could also put a gate at the bedroom door. That way if LO manages to get off the bed, he can stand at the gate and holler for you. Babyproof the room of course. I also barricade up the rest of the bed with pillows and our comforter while DD is asleep alone. That way she doesn't roll off in her sleep before I join her for bed.

[Our Lunar Eclipse]

Hi - while we don't have the challenge of different bedtimes... yet... i am beginning to have concerns about nap time too. Our son plays in his crib (it is a safe place for him to practice standing and playing when I am dashing around the house) - so I am worried that if I start to put him in it to sleep he will 'wake up' to play. He has also started to wake up quietly and roll around in our family bed. The bedrails are not going to hold him. We are thinking that once he starts crawling the mattress is going on the floor. I like the idea of gating the bedroom when he is napping.