Side car the crib before or after the birth?

[lunarlady]

(x-posted in nighttime parenting)

I'm planning my second HB in August. I birthed DD#1 on our bed.

For the new little one, we are planning on sidecaring the crib to our bed and cosleeping. Reading online it sounds like this is not a super complicated procedure, but it does involve bungee cording the crib to the adult bed, using foam to level the crib mattress or adding foam to the edges to prevent shifing, and, of course, making both the crib and bed up with sheets and bedding.

So here's the question. Do I sidecar the crib before or after the birth? I'm worried that if I do it before, it will get in the way of the midwifes during the birth if I end up on the bed again, and it does make changing the sheets quite a pain. If I do it after, then I will need to get out of the bed to allow DH/family to sidecar the crib and with DD#1, I didn't get out of bed for at least 2 days after the birth. I also have this sort of obsession about things like that, and I worry that my DH/family won't make it as level or as gap free as I, the obsessive mother, would.

What to do? Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

[vbactivist]

Originally Posted by lunarlady

(x-posted in nighttime parenting)

I'm planning my second HB in August. I birthed DD#1 on our bed.

For the new little one, we are planning on sidecaring the crib to our bed and cosleeping. Reading online it sounds like this is not a super complicated procedure, but it does involve bungee cording the crib to the adult bed, using foam to level the crib mattress or adding foam to the edges to prevent shifing, and, of course, making both the crib and bed up with sheets and bedding.

So here's the question. Do I sidecar the crib before or after the birth? I'm worried that if I do it before, it will get in the way of the midwifes during the birth if I end up on the bed again, and it does make changing the sheets quite a pain. If I do it after, then I will need to get out of the bed to allow DH/family to sidecar the crib and with DD#1, I didn't get out of bed for at least 2 days after the birth. I also have this sort of obsession about things like that, and I worry that my DH/family won't make it as level or as gap free as I, the obsessive mother, would.

What to do? Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

I would do it after. Newborns are small for a while, so you don't really need the extra room right away.

[cileag]

It ended up being much simpler than we anticipated. We went out and bought bungees etc but found that on our carpet, the bed and crib do not move apart at all from each other. Now this might change as our daughter gets larger and more mobile, but she rolls and crawls pretty good now and it's been okay so far. I would think that with a newborn who isn't moving, one option you could consider is making everything up ahead of time, but no attaching with the bungee cords. I also think the bungee cord is to make the crib more stable, but we have a Gulliver crib from IKEA that is also a toddler bed and thus is very stable with its 4th side removed.

To change the sheets on our bed, we just move the crib back a few inches and then scoot it back in---we use tightly rolled towels on the far side of the crib to stuff the gap, but they are pretty easy to adjust.

In any case, getting it mostly set up and then adjusting it if you feel it's not stable seems like a pretty easy way to try it out.
Happy birthing and baby mooning!

[billikengirl]

We did it after, in case I wanted to use the bed during labor/birthing, so that the midwives and I could climb on and off the bed easily on whicheve side I chose.

[etsdtm99]

We were able to side car our crib without foam or anything, sometimes it's very simple- I might set up a test run you had the room to maybe push it away for the birth - personally I can't picture putting a newborn in a side car crib for at least a week or 2 anyway

[St. Margaret]

I'm planning on doing it after. I'll want it to be easy to get in and out of bed while I'm pregnant, and I'll want the room on that side of the bed for birthing. DH will just set up the crib after the birth (safe place to put baby down when needed) and we'll side car it when we feel we need it.

[thebeljur]

I would wait until afterward. You probably won't need the side car space immediately anyway (but this is coming from someone who just directly cosleeps and doesn't use a side car, so take my advice with a grain of salt).

Happy birthing!

[momasana]

We did a side-car set up but waiting until after the birth (I birthed DS on the bed). It was easier for the midwives and DH to have access to all sides of the bed while I birthed. When we stripped the sheets after the birth to put on clean fresh sheets, that's when they put up the sidecar.

[dziwozony]

Could you get it all assembled & ready to go but not attach it until after the birth?

[rad]

I'd do it afterwards. I was always afraid our co-sleeper would get in the way. And to be honest, I really didn't use it much the first day or 2 after birth. By then, Dh and I could easily set it up.