Are you Planning to use a Crib? Bassinet? Co-Sleeper?

[virgo]

I'm starting to think about what to put on the registry and am trying to decide on whether to get a crib, bassinet, or co-sleeper. Has anyone else decided?

[rparker]

I'm co-sleeping again. I have this device that goes next to me in the bed: http://www.amazon.com/First-Years-Se.../dp/B00012CHFI I really liked it in the first month or two when our daughter was really small. By the time she outgrew it I felt ok having her just next to me in the bed. It's nice because it has built-in night light that you can turn on/off without getting out of bed.

We also used a moses basket for some naps and to carry her around the house: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0007ZHJ8O?tag=tripstrostor-20 We used it when she was napping next to my husband and sometimes I propped it next to my "bed" at an angle when she was having issues with reflux. (I sleep on a futon on the floor, but that's me being weird.) The moses basket has also been a nice as she's grown older because it looks cute in her room and her dolls sleep in it; I think that it will make a nice "keepsake" when she's older.

I've heard good things about the Arm's Reach Co-sleeper from people who have real beds, but I've never used it personally. I'd be cautious about a lot of bassinets that are on the market. We were given one (marketed also as a co-sleeper) as a shower gift that has been involved in at least one reported infant death but hadn't been pulled from the market. We only used that as a changing table and gave it away when we moved.

I wouldn't buy a crib right away unless you are really sure that you're going to use it. We've never owned one and never felt like it was a loss. By the time her and I were both ready for her to try sleeping on her own she was old enough for a toddler bed.

If you do get a crib or bassinet you'll want to keep in mind the AAP recommendation that babies never sleep in a room by themselves because that increases their risk for SIDS. Whatever your baby sleeps in it should go in the same room as mom.

[Aimsley9]

We have a crib side-carred to our bed right now because our 13 month old starts the night in his room on a futon mattress on the floor. Than I bring him into our room when he wakes up. He doesn't sleep in the crib, but I will keep it up for the extra space. Sometimes I end up half in the crib if dd2 and ds both end up in our bed. We need a bigger bed. lol

I would like to get a snuggle nest for the new baby so it can sleep between dh and I. Or I can just put that in the crib if ds is in bed with us. I am hoping he will sleep in his own room all night by that but that is just wishful thinking .

[sunwillshine]

We have an arms reach mini cosleeper for the first few months, and then are planning to move her to crib once we feel she (and we!) are ready.

I've also registered for a moses basked for when I'm downstairs or when we go visiting, since I don't want to pack up the colsleeper and take it with us all the time and all over the house (even though it does convert to a freestanding bassinet), and I certainly do not want to just leaver her sleeping in a carseat if I can help it (a few of my friends do this, but I've heard it's no good for back/neck to be in the infant car seat for long periods.

[meriberi_00]

We will be using the Arm's Reach mini co-sleeper...we had a pack n play with DS, but the bassinet in it sagged pretty bad...do I don't want to go that route again.

Meredith

[chely7425]

We have a bassinet, and we partially co-sleep till they get to squirmy. Both our sons went into their owns rooms around 6 months because they would NOT sleep with us in the room!! They were waking up every hour or 2 in our room and sleeping thru the night in their own space... so yeah I think whatever option you choose is fine, a lot probably depends on how much room you have in your room for whatever you choose!

[CherryBomb]

We have a pack n play with a bassinet attachment that we use (in our room, of course). Once they're too heavy for the bassinet they just sleep right in the pack n play (we have a nice soft cover for it so they aren't sleep just on that vinyl like stuff). With dd3 she was so petite that she fit into just fine until 18 months and then went into a toddler bed in her own room. So that's probably what we'll do this time. I mostly just bed share with teeny babies, I'm a really light sleeper so once they get bigger/squirmy I can't get any sleep.

[CherryBomb]

Oh and the pack n play we have we bought for dd1, who will be 9 in August! Best hundred bucks I ever spent

[lach]

Baby will sleep with us until s/he goes at least most of the way through the night: I don't mind stumbling down the hall once or maybe twice a night, but no way to more than that! With my daughter that was a bit over 6 months and with my son it was about 5 months. Hopefully I'll get lucky again: both my kids have been great sleepers. I'm pretty much guaranteed to have one who isn't, and I assume this one will be it. But we'll muddle through.

We will definitely have a crib for naps. Napping on my bed works until they can roll, and after that it's a no go, even stacking up pillows along the edge. But in the newborn stage, my other two always either napped on me or someplace right next to me (we kept a cradle in the kitchen and a bassinet in the living room for convenient naps). After a few months those don't work so well, and we'll move napping to the crib.

I'm really annoyed that we need to buy a new crib. We bought a very cheap one when DD was born, and it snapped while being moved when DS was ready for it. So the poor kid's been sleeping in the pack and play since... and that mattress is so thin it can't be that comfortable. If I knew we were going to have a 3rd child I would have bought him a real crib right away!

[MaybeJ]

We bought an Arm's Reach mini co-sleeper off of craig's list that is in excellent condition. I hope to be able to use it for 6 months or so. After that we will be buying a crib that will be in our room. We live in a one bedroom apartment right now and will for the next while so baby will be in our room until some time in the future!

[Melly24]

We will sidecar the cot (crib) until baby is ready to move out of our room and into a bed with DD, or their own bed in a room with DD. Depends on what both of them prefer. After he/she is one year old.

Will will use a portacot (pack n play) in the living room for naps probably.

[honeybee]

None of the above. We had a crib for ds1, and I think it was used about three times... when other babies were visiting for a short nap.

We do have a bassinet that I use for occasional naps in those early weeks, or just as a changing table. It was a hand-me-down, though, I don't think I'd buy one. I used the bassinet for ds1 to start with, and it was such a pain to pull him out of it and try to nurse in the middle of the night. I would start to fall asleep holding him in the rocker and realized how dangerous that was... so we switched to cosleeping, which was much safer, easier, and I got a LOT more sleep.

Check out the information by Dr. John McKenna of the mother-baby sleep laboratory. Breastfeeding mothers who sleep with their babies in a safe sleep space actually PROTECT their infants from SIDS.

[blue butterfly]

we will be co-sleeping

[mistymama]

We'll use an Arm's Reach mini-cosleeper - mainly for a spot to put baby when he/she is tiny but we'll be co-sleeping. Dh is a big guy and I feel safer having a place to but an itty bitty baby for the first few weeks.

I will also set up a nursery and buy a crib. I co-slept with ds, but he also always started out the night in his crib and napped there. When he woke around 3-4am for a feeding I would move him to bed with us & he would stay there until we all got up. It worked really well for us .. who knows if it will work for this one, but I can hope.

So we are buying an Arms Reach mini & crib.

[SilverFish]

we still hadn't decided what to do about sleeping arrangements when my daughter decided to arrive, so while we were in the hospital, my mom took my husband out and "made" him buy a crib. we were also loaned a little moses basket. i liked having both, but could have done without either. the moses basket was nice for the first few weeks, because i could move it around with me, and put her in it for a couple hours at night to get some really deep sleep. the crib is nice to have now... she doesn't spend the night in it (except for once or twice when she's fallen asleep in it before we've gone to bed and i've left her in it rather than move her. she often naps in there, and actually likes hanging out in it when she's awake too. we may transition her to nights in there once she's a bit more mobile, but for now, she basically naps where ever we happen to be... on the sofa, in bed, or where ever, and sleeps with us in bed.

i think you can make any combo work for you if you and the baby are interested.

[Melly24]

Here's another question - people who are co-sleeping (whether that is bed sharing, or side-carring or whatever), do you have an older child who is still co-sleeping?

DD still co-sleeps half way through the night. She comes into my bed when she wakes which can be anywhere from midnight to 4am. Anyone BTDT?

[Aimsley9]

Originally Posted by Melly24

Here's another question - people who are co-sleeping (whether that is bed sharing, or side-carring or whatever), do you have an older child who is still co-sleeping?

DD still co-sleeps half way through the night. She comes into my bed when she wakes which can be anywhere from midnight to 4am. Anyone BTDT?

Dd2 did and still does come in at night when ds was a newborn. Ds was between dh and I or next to me and the side-car crib that he will not sleep in . Dd2 just slept next to my dh so not next to ds.

This time my ds will just under 18 months old when lo arrives so I think we will be co-sleeping with 2 on a more regular basis. The plan for now is to have ds between dh and I and the baby in the side-carred crib. I am hoping to have a snuggle nest too for the baby.

[virgo]

It sounds like it's tough to figure out what will work until after the baby is born. I think maybe I will do the mini co sleeper and possibly a crib that converts into a toddler bed (in case it never gets used as a crib).

[blue butterfly]

When dd2 was born dd1 was coming into our room maybe once or twice a week in the middle of the night. We have a king sized bed and asked her to please sleep at our feet if she woke and wanted to join us. I'm not very tall so that worked quite well for us.

Originally Posted by Melly24

Here's another question - people who are co-sleeping (whether that is bed sharing, or side-carring or whatever), do you have an older child who is still co-sleeping?

DD still co-sleeps half way through the night. She comes into my bed when she wakes which can be anywhere from midnight to 4am. Anyone BTDT?

[rparker]

Originally Posted by Melly24

Here's another question - people who are co-sleeping (whether that is bed sharing, or side-carring or whatever), do you have an older child who is still co-sleeping?

DD still co-sleeps half way through the night. She comes into my bed when she wakes which can be anywhere from midnight to 4am. Anyone BTDT?

I am in the exact same position that you are and I'm not sure how it's going to work out. Both my husband and daughter take up way more than their fair share of space and I currently sleep squished between them. (We have 2 full sized mattresses pushed together, so slightly larger than a king.) I think that my solution for the first few months is going to be to put my husband in the spare room and place the baby between myself and the wall... unless Alice begins to very reliably sleep through the night EVERY night in her own room before then. Currently she comes into our room anytime between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m. ish.