Co-sleeping?

[Dichotomy]

I am planning on co-sleeping with this baby, but am unsure of exactly how that will all play out.

My aunt is giving me her crib to use, and I was thinking I could just remove the side that lowers, and bungee the crib base to our bed base. Ive looked at a few examples online and think I could manage to use a sturdy foam, covered in a crib blanket to try to keep the crib flush with our mattress.

However, our bed is a full size bed that sits on a frame made to fit either a full or queen size box spring and mattress. By having a mattress that is the smaller of the two, theres a gap between the frame and the mattresses. I dont know exactly how to explain it, but our mattress doesnt come flush to the headboard, footboard, and sides.

Is it still possible to figure out a way to make our desire to co-sleep work?? Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

[Climbergirl]

Frames are usually not that expensive, so I would get a frame to fit your mattress. It will make it easier to side care the crib to your bed. I used those bed lifter things to get the crib mattress to the bed mattress level. I think that would be safer than using foam.

I can try to find the website I used for inspiration....

[Dichotomy]

We have a very nice (matching) bedroom set, so Im thinking I would prefer to buy a box spring and mattress that was the larger size if absolutely necessary.

However, if its possible to attach the crib to the bed as-is, that would be my first choice.

[Climbergirl]

My concern though would be on how to bridge the gap between the crib and your mattress. You would want something hard and you would want to make sure the mattress won't move while you are sleeping so that the baby would not accidentally get caught. Unless I am not completely understanding your setup?

Could you take the mattress of the frame and not use the headboard for a while? Or is the headboard such that you could attach it to a wall so you still have a headboard (kind of how hotels do it)?

I prefer the mattresses next to each other because there is only one transition (because I think having more stuff would wake me up). That probably made no sense whatsoever!

We used out bumpers from our nursery set to get the mattresses right next to each other.

Here is the website that I was thinking about:

http://www.freewebs.com/sidecarcrib/

I think a crib makes the best sidecar

[TheGirls]

I found that my boxspring & mattress without a bedframe was about the right height for the crib. Plus it's lower for when the DD falls out. (not often, but it happens now that she's older and moves around a lot). So we just sidecarred the crib to the mattress/boxspring without using the bedframe. It also eliminates the gap formed by the edge of the bedframe.