Co-sleeping with a mobile babe--how do you do it? (x-posted in family bed)

[kismetbaby]

My almost 8 month old is getting seriously mobile. Not quite crawling yet, but rolling and scooting all over the place. Yesterday he fell out of bed for the first time (from a futon luckily so not far off the ground) and he did this in his sleep! Now I'm afraid to leave him in bed for naps. Normally he sleeps in our bed which isn't a futon so farther off the ground and I worry about him falling off.

I hadn't thought this far in advance about co-sleeping. I love co-sleeping, my DH tolerates it. So he thinks this is a sign to get our LO into his own bed. But we don't have a crib and weren't really planning to get one. Hmmmm. What are our options here? He always falls asleep BFing in bed and I just slip away, but obviously this would be made much mode difficult if I had to transfer him to another bed.

How have you made co-sleeping work at this stage? Or how did you transition from co-sleeping to sleeping separately?

[nicole528]

Hi! I hope you get some feedback as I have been wondering this too. My DD is 6 mo and she naps and sleeps in our bed. She doesn't roll over in the bed but I believe it is a matter of time before she becomes more mobile. I would prefer to get her to nap in the crib, but she wakes the second I try to put her down. I also BF her to sleep most times and slip away. I considered maybe bed rails, but not sure if that helps or not. I'll be checking back here to see if anyone responds. Good luck!!!

Nicole, mama to DD (11/09)

[jammomma]

We ended up putting our mattress on the floor, removing the box spring and getting a video baby moniter, so when he is napping I can see when he gets up. I didn't want a video baby moniter at first but it really has helped.

[isabchi]

I place pillows around the bed, especially over the edge. Also, place some conforter or thick wool blanket in case he felt, in the floor around the bed. Any way, we have the matress at the floor, for safety issue, and also I teach starting from 6 mo. to get up and down of the bed.

[JordanKX]

We do the pillows around the bed, and on my side, I have a rail, just because he's most often on my side. They're not a deterrent. Just yesterday I put him on the bed, turned my back to grab a shirt, and he went head-first over the pile of pillows on to the floor. This is his 3rd trip to the floor, of course all head-first. Um, clearly that can't continue. So I'm putting the bed on the floor this weekend.

[bonamarq]

At 4-5months dd scooted off the end of the bed during a nap - had NO IDEA she was capable of that - at that point we put bed on floor as described and we moved at 8mo - saw no point in getting a crib so we put a futon on the floor in her room - I figured it would be an easier transition for me to remove myself from her bed then to get her out of ours - but she's 6.5 YEARS and I'm still mostly in her bed LOL - but it works for us

[akind1]

I am considering getting a crib mattress to put next to our bed for DS to sleep on. Our bed is well off the floor and while he hasn't fallen out - yet - I think it may only be a matter of time! we want a new bed or bedframe that is not so high . . . but I don't know when that might happen. Also because DS does like having his own separate space sometimes. (and we like it too )

[gracemamma]

DD is 10 mo. old today (yay!), has co-slept since birth and has (knock all wooden surfaces) not fallen out of bed. I was freaked out myself by a poll this week in the family bed sub-forum where 90% of co-sleepers said DC had fallen out of bed.
DD is very mobile and fast. i never turn my back on her when she's on the bed and i hold her foot when she gets to the edge.
i go to bed with her at 8 and either read or sleep and sleep with my arms near her so i wake up if she starts moving. she sleeps between dh and me for now -with pillow barriers on his side til he comes to bed.
we are going to set up a sidecar crib as soon as the wool mattress we ordered comes in so we can all rest better, though. dd sleeps best sideways and kicks dh in the face!
good luck figuring out the best arrangement for your family!

[kitteh]

I'm starting to become concerned about this too. My LO is only 3.5 months, but she's already very mobile--rolling and starting to scoot--and I can't bear the thought of her toppling out of bed. Unfortunately we have a very nice wooden sleighbed frame, so putting the mattress on the floor isn't an option. But that leaves us with a very high bed. Right now when she naps we put pillows around her and also on the floor around the bed, but I feel like that will only work for a couple more months, if that.

~fret fret fret~

We do have an original-sized (large) arm's reach at my side of the bed which we've never used for DD, but it works nicely as a catch-all for baby stuff I might need in the middle of the night, and as a barrier for her on that side. I'm wondering if maybe it might have to come into play more as DD grows.

[texmati]

we put pillows all around the edge of the bed, but our baby is not that mobile yet. I really want DH to put the mattress on the floor, but he doesn't think it's necessary !

[texaspeach]

at 8.5 months, ds is never in our bed alone and has not fallen yet :knock on wood: he's been crawling for a while now. I sleep with my hand on him and wake up when he does. the arm's reach cosleeper acts as a sort of bed rail on my side. we do use a crib for naps though, at least for the ones he doesn't take on me

dh is against putting the mattress on the floor so we haven't yet.

I really hope I haven't jinxed us.

[lkmiscnet]

I have bed rails on both sides of our queen bed, but they don't extend to the length of the bed and the foot board is still wide open on the end.

My 11 mo old uses the bed rail to dangle over (bent at the waist) and pull up to stand (he's not walking yet). I can already anticipate that he could (or will) go head first over the rail, as I have had to hold him by the ankles when he dangles himself over the bed rail.

So, just so you know...bed rails will only buy you minimal time. They are good for keeping your little one from falling off the bed when sleeping, but once awake, it's a no go.

Since I go to bed sometimes 3-4 hours after our LO, I have used very large pillows from one of our sectionals, but a few times already, when our LO has woken up and not made a peep right away, I found him attempting to scale the pillow. It's only a matter of time.

Unfortunately, I think the only solution is to put the mattress on the floor, which I was hoping to avoid too. The crib is right next to the bed, but I also nurse our DS to sleep and am able to cuddle him back to sleep or nurse him when he awakes at night, which he still does 2-3 times. So, the crib has been good for hanging laundry...sigh. I think I might experiment and try to see what happens if I put him in the crib to sleep. We'll see...

I've read other posts where moms will teach their LO how to get on their belly and get down off bed and onto the floor safely, but it depends on the age. For our LO, he isn't at that stage yet, since he can't stand on his own or walk.

I wish there were some netting (like trampoline nets) that could be wrapped around a bed for co-sleepers!

Good luck!

[pumpkin]

We put a bolster on the side of the bed so DD can't roll off. We have the mattress on the floor. Its a thick mattress so still quite a drop. We also started working with her to get off the bed correctly. She took to that pretty quickly. Our big thing was that the bedroom is right at the top of the stairs and if I close the bedroom door we are trapped in here all night because the latch wakes her up. We put a baby gate on the bedroom door to keep her contained. She has a habit of waking up, crawling out of bed, and heading straight for the door so this was essential.

No advice on getting babe into own bed. We just aren't there yet. I hope she will be ready soon.

[batsister]

Our son is ten months old and very mobile (crawling, starting to walk). We put pillows near the bed's edges (we still have the co-sleeper-- i.e. glorified side rail on one side) and also use a video monitor when he's in bed and we are not. Our apartment is small enough that we can get to him before he crawls off the bed (so far... knock on wood).

[dahlialia]

Our futon is very low to the ground to begin with, so I'm not overly concerned about a fall from a safety POV. DD2 & I cosleep alone. I have a bedbug bumper on her side of the bed http://www.gobedbug.com/ and when I'm not in bed I put a rolled up rug on my side.

[snoopy5386]

this mattress from Ikea http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00139752
only 4 inches thick. On the floor next to our bed and can slide under our bed when not in use. That and a video monitor for when they are sleeping on our bed.

[lj2blessed]

I use pillow fortresses so she can't roll off while asleep. If I'm too sleepy to police her or she's still asleep while I shower, I transfer her to the pack n play.

[hansapanza]

We have co-slept since birth and baby is 7.5 months now. I have her crib pushed up against my side as a barrier and she sleeps either btwn me and papi or me and the crib. I always wake up when she does. As for naps, I usually need to nurse to sleep and slip away and before she was too mobile, pillows around the bed edges were fine, but not anymore! She now crawls very fast so I first try to put her down in the crib and when that usually doesn't work, I lay down with her on the living room floor (her padded play area) and slip away. When we move and she has her own play room, I'll put her down for naps in there on the mattress on the floor.

I hope this helps, I know I've learned from others' tips!